Dec. 1, 2008

NCAA Tournament First & Second Rounds

SALT LAKE CITY - The Mountain West Conference champion University of Utah volleyball team completed its regular season with a 24-5 mark and enter the NCAA Tournament as the nation's 12th seed. The Utes will face the Furman Paladins Friday at 3 p.m., MT in Clemson, S.C. The winner of the match will face the winner of the Tennessee/Clemson contest Saturday at 5 p.m. MT. Utah has qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 10 of the last 11 years and has compiled an 8-9 all-time record in the national postseason tournament.

Last Week

Utah won the Pacific Bankers Classic title with a pair of non-conference wins last weekend in Stockton, Calif. MWC Co-Player of the Year Lori Baird (Murray, Utah) registered a team-high 11 kills to help Utah defeat Nevada in four sets in the first match last Friday. The Utes won a four-set match against Pacific on Saturday and Baird took the tournament's Most Valuable Player award and the MWC's Player of the Week honor after coming up with 10 kills and nine blocks in the title match. Baird hit for a .320 hitting percentage with two errors on 25 attempts. For the weekend, Baird averaged 3.00 kills per set with a .409 hitting percentage and had 1.86 blocks per set.

MWC Champions

After starting the MWC season 0-2, Utah took 14 consecutive victories in conference matches to win its third MWC regular-season title in school history, and its third in the last five seasons.

Series Histories

The Utes have never met Furman or Clemson and are 0-4 all-time against Tennessee. Utah's last meeting with UT was on Aug. 25, 2007 in Omaha, Neb.

Last Meetings

In its only other previous matchup against any of the three other schools in the Clemson bracket, Utah dropped a five-game thriller to Tennessee, 3-2, in the 2007 AVCA Showcase. With the match tied 2-2 after four set. Utah came out strong in game five, quickly taking a 5-1 lead. Tennessee took a timeout to regroup and began to chip away at the Utes lead. The turning point of the match came as the Lady Vols went on a 5-1 run to tie the game at 13-13 with help from kills by Nikki Fowler and Milan Clark. The two squads traded the next several points, reaching 16-16, before Utah made two attack errors to give Tennessee an 18-16 win. Kathryn Haynie (North Salt Lake City, Utah) tied her then-career-high with 20 kills and also set a career-high with three service aces, while Keisha Fisher (Ririe, Idaho) had 59 assists.

Scouting the Clemson Bracket

The Furman Paladins earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Southern Conference Tournament with three five-set victories and defeated the College of Charleston in the title match to win SoCon Championship. The Paladins are 21-13 overall and 11-7 in the SoCon with a 6-3 mark in neutral-site matches. This is Furman's second NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and the first under head coach Michelle Young. Three different Paladin attackers average more than 2.50 kills per set, with Alison West leading the way (3.09). Katherine Hall registers 2.58 kills per set, while Nicole Palazzo has 2.55 kills per set and leads the team in both hitting percentage (.315) and blocking (1.02/set).

The Tennessee Lady Volunteers will be making their fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament in five years and the 10th in school history. Tennessee carries a 22-9 overall mark and took first place in the Southeastern Conference with a 15-5 record in league play. Fowler led Tennessee to a five-set road victory over No. 17 Kentucky last Friday in Lexington, and earned her third SEC Offensive Player of the Week award this season after coming up with a season-high 24 kills on 62 swings for a .258 hitting percentage. The 6-2 sophomore also recorded seven digs, three blocks and two assists, all while serving as one of UT's most effective passers, as she collected just two reception errors in a team-high 40 attempts (.947). Fowler is second in the SEC with 3.80 kills per set, and leads the Lady Volunteers in kills per set (3.61).

Clemson tied for third place in the regular season Atlantic Coast Conference standings with a 14-6 record in league play and stands 22-9 overall. Senior middle blocker Danielle Hepburn was named the ACC's Player of the Week after helping the Tigers overcome a two-set deficit at Georgia Tech. Hepburn converted 18 kills on 33 attempts with only four errors in the five-set victory over the Yellowjackers. Hepburn hit .424 in the final match of the regular season and broke her own school record with a .397 hitting percentage.

Going Out With A Bang

The Utes won their final 14 conference matches this season en route to their third MWC regular-season title in school history. During their 14-match MWC win streak, the Utes outblocked their opponents 3.46 to 2.02 and held the opposition to a .128 hitting percentage, while converting at a .268 clip on the attack.

MWC Conference Title History

Through 10 full seasons of MWC play, Utah has won three regular-season titles: 2004, 2006, and 2008. The Utes also won three MWC Tournament championships during the 2001, 2002 and 2005 seasons.

Block Party

The Utes are fifth in the country in blocking and are second in the MWC, averaging 3.00 blocks per set. Baird is 14th in the nation and is currently second in the conference with 1.41 blocks per set. She is also third in the MWC in kills per set with 3.10. Baird is second in school history with 574 block assists and third with 621 career total blocks. Baird needs 49 blocks to catch Utah's all-time leader, Kim Turner (2000-2003). Emillie Toone (American Fork, Utah) is third in the MWC with 1.37 blocks per set and 18th nationally. Toone is second in Utah history with 623 career total blocks, which is 47 total blocks and 28 block assists behind Turner. Toone is third in the school record books at 571 block assists and is tied with two others for 10th place with 52 career solo blocks.

Efficiency Is The Key

The Utes are 24-0 when posting a higher hitting percentage than their opponents. Toone currently leads the MWC with a .391 hitting percentage and is 18th in the nation. She is third on the team with 230 kills this season and has committed only 47 errors on 468 swings. Toone has a chance to break her own single-season record (.396 in 2006) and become the school record holder in hitting efficiency at .343 (823-217-1765).

Two Of A Kind

Baird and Haynie are the first set of Ute teammates to have more than 1,000 career kills at the same time in school history.

Painting The MWC Red

Baird was named the MWC Co-Player of the Year, while Haynie, Toone, and Karolina Bartkowiak (Aurora, Ill.) joined Baird on the All-MWC team. In other MWC awards, Baird and Toone claimed seven MWC Player of the Week awards in nine weeks from Oct. 6 to Dec. 1. Baird won the award twice in Oct., twice in Nov. and again on Dec. 1. Toone was named MWC Co-Player of the Week on Oct. 13 and Nov. 3.

Seeing Double

Six different Utes have 21 double-double performances this season, including a team-high seven from Haynie.

Coach Launiere

Head coach Beth Launiere reached the 20-win mark for the 13th time and the 12th time in her last 13 seasons. Launiere has a 389-211 mark in 600 career matches.