|
|
Utah is looking for its first-ever regular-season conference championship.
|
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Nov. 11, 2002
THIS WEEK:
No. 21 Utah (20-6, 9-3) hosts Colorado State (18-8, 10-2) and Wyoming (20-8, 5-7) this Friday and Saturday, Nov. 15-16. Both matches start at 7:00 p.m. at Crimson Court. Colorado State currently leads the Mountain West, while the Utes are in second place.
REVIEWING LAST WEEK:
For the first time in the 28-year history of women's volleyball at the University of Utah, the Utes defeated Brigham Young twice in regular season play in the same season. Utah won 3-1 (33-31, 23-30, 30-28, 30-26) at Smith Fieldhouse in Provo last Friday. Senior Sylva Strzinkova finished with a double-double (15 kills and 11 digs), while junior Kim Turner was two blocks shy of a triple-double (14 kills, 16 digs and eight blocks). She also had four service aces. Junior libero Jackie Morrill had a career-high 18 digs, while sophomore setter Kelsie Kartchner dished out 51 assists. She also added a career-high seven kills, to go along with five digs and three blocks. Sophomore Lyndsey Phillips had seven kills and six blocks on the night.
USA Today/AVCA Top 25
Rank School Total 2002 Last
(1st-place Votes) Points Record Week
1 Stanford (36) 1581 24-3 4
2 USC (27) 1571 21-1 2
3 Hawai'i (2) 1476 23-1 1
4 Florida 1448 24-1 3
5 Nebraska 1399 22-1 5
6 Minnesota 1279 26-3 7
7 UC Santa Barbara 1165 24-1 6
8 Northern Iowa 1157 26-2 8
9 Pepperdine 1141 18-6 10
10 Long Beach State 1066 22-3 9
11 Santa Clara 936 22-3 11
12 North Carolina 883 25-2 12
13 Penn State 775 20-5 14
14 Wisconsin 750 18-7 13
15 Eastern Washington 675 26-1 15
16 Arizona 630 13-9 16
17 Washington State 587 17-7 17
18 South Carolina 510 20-4 18
19 UCLA 449 15-10 19
20 Kansas State 295 17-6 25
21 UTAH 285 20-6 22
22 Washington 273 15-8 21
23 Georgia Tech 267 26-5 24
24 Missouri 152 20-6 20
25 University of San Diego 77 22-6 NR
Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Arizona State (62), Notre Dame (47), California (39), Indiana (32), South Florida (23), Ohio State (15), Arkansas (15), Texas A&M (13), Texas (11), Michigan (11), Fresno State (9), Michigan State (4). Seven teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 17 combined points.
MWC STANDINGS
Conference Overall
W L Pct. W L Pct.
Colorado State 10 2 .833 18 8 .692
UTAH 9 3 .750 20 6 .769
San Diego State 9 3 .750 18 11 .621
BYU 6 6 .500 11 15 .423
Wyoming 5 7 .417 20 8 .714
UNLV 5 7 .417 9 17 .346
New Mexico 2 10 .167 7 18 .280
Air Force 2 10 .167 8 19 .296
SERIES SHORTS:
* Utah is 17-35 all-time against Colorado State. In their last meeting on Oct. 19 of this year, the Utes fell 3-1 in Fort Collins. Utah is 10-11 at home, 3-19 away and 4-5 at a neutral site against the Rams.
* The Utes lead the all-time series with Wyoming 25-23. The last time the two teams met, earlier this season, Utah lost 3-0. The Utes are 14-9 at home, 8-14 away and 3-0 at a neutral site vs. the Cowgirls.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
Colorado State - The league-leading Rams (18-8, 10-2) are coming off back-to-back sweeps last weekend over New Mexico and Air Force. Freshman outside hitter Tess Rogers leads Colorado State with a 3.85 kills per game average. Setter Melissa Courtney is the MWC leader in assists, averaging 13.15 per game. Lindsey Kerr leads the conference in digs with a 3.82 digs per game average. Michelle Knox and Katie Jo Shirley lead the team with 1.23 and 1.14 blocks per game averages.
Wyoming - The Cowgirls (20-8, 5-7) defeated Air Force (30-23, 25-30, 22-30, 30-26, 15-13) and New Mexico (30-24, 28-30, 30-24, 30-26) last weekend. Wyoming is led by the league leader in kills, Michele Rauter, with a 4.47 kills per game average. She also leads the team in digs, with a 2.97 per game average. Setter Amy Doman averages 12.14 assists per game, while Liz McDuffie and Sara Maytorena each average 1.17 blocks per game to lead the Cowgirls.
QUOTING HEAD COACH BETH LAUNIERE:
On the upcoming matches against Colorado State and Wyoming - "After our fiasco at Wyoming and Colorado State, we are putting our nose down and playing one match at a time. We still have a chance at the Mountain West Championship."
MWC LEADERS:
As a team, Utah leads the MWC in hitting defense (.147) and blocks per game (3.42), ranks second in assists per game (13.92) and service aces (1.83), and is third in kills per game (15.37). In conference matches, the Utes are tops in hitting defense, rank second in kills, blocks, assists and service aces, and third in hitting percentage and digs.
Individually, junior Kim Turner leads the conference in blocks per game (1.55), ranks tied for second in kills per game (3.89), is tied for sixth in service aces (0.37) and ranks eighth in hitting percentage (.295). Senior captain Sylva Strzinková ranks tied for second with Turner in kills per game (3.89), ninth in service aces (0.33), 12th in digs per game (2.49) and 15th in hitting percentage (.253). Sophomore Lyndsey Phillips is third in blocks (1.39) and 14th in hitting percentage (.264), while senior Brenda Beal is fifth (1.27) in blocks. Jackie Morrill is sixth in digs per game with a 2.98 average, and sophomore Kelsie Kartchner is tied for third in service aces (0.40) and seventh in assists (10.57).
In statistics for conference matches only, Turner ranks second in kills (4.16), tied for third in hitting percentage (.333), fourth in service aces (0.42) and fifth in blocks (1.35). Strzinková is fifth in kills (3.84), tied for 10th in service aces (0.35), and 10th in digs (2.33). Phillips is third in blocks (1.38), while Beal is tied for ninth in blocks (1.27) and 15th in hitting percentage (.253). Meanwhile, Morrill is fourth in digs (3.14) and Kartchner is fourth in assists (11.84) and tied for 10th in service aces (0.35). Freshman Shelly Hundley is tied for 13th in service aces (0.32).
HOME SWEET HOME:
Heading into this weekend's matches with Colorado State and Wyoming, the Utes have a 29-match home winning streak that dates back to the 2000 season. Utah, 12-0 at Crimson Court this season, went 15-0 at home last year and won its last two home matches of the 2000 season. The Utes' last loss at Crimson Court came on Oct. 27, 2000, when they fell to Colorado State 3-0.
MILESTONE WATCH:
In the second game against BYU last Friday, sophomore setter Kelsie Kartchner dished out her 1,699th assist, moving into sixth place all-time at Utah. She now has 1,724 assists on her career, 68 away from assistant coach Lucie Turková's 1,792.
Kim Turner ranks second all-time in block assists with 396, ranks fourth in total blocks (448), eighth in kills (1,027) and tied for eighth in block solos (52).
NEXT WEEK:
The Utes travel to Fort Collins, Colo., to participate in the Mountain West Conference Tournament, Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 21-23.
|
|
 |
