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The University of Utah Athletics
Tonga Leads Utah to Victory
6/21/1999 12:00 AM | Volleyball
October 23, 1998
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Kalani Tonga had a match-high 18 kills to lead Utah to a three-game sweep over New Mexico 15-11, 15-11, 15-6 in Western Athletic Conference volleyball on Friday night at Crimson Court.
Tonga also hit .294 and had seven digs and four blocks. Sara Shakula had 13 kills with a .385 hitting percentage. Lucie Turkova had a match-high 12 digs and Stacie Greenwalt led Utah with five blocks. Graciela Torres posted a match-high 41 assists.
Jessie Goffard led New Mexico with 13 kills and five digs. The Utes (13-6, 3-3 WAC), in fifth place in the WAC Pacific Division, out hit the eighth-place Lobos 6-12 (0-6 WAC) .231 to .056. Utah also had a 13 to four advantage in blocking.
"I was very happy to see Sara (Shakula) play so well," said Ute head coach Beth Launiere. "She was jumping about as well as she had all year. We kind of let them dictate the tempo too much at times, but we did a better job of taking control of things later in the match.
"I really feel like we need to win seven of our last nine matches, starting tonight," continued Launiere. "We're capable of doing that. I like the way our schedule plays out the rest of the way."
The Utes fell behind 6-1 to start the second game before scoring six of the next seven points to tie the Lobos at 7-all. The closest New Mexico got the rest of the game was at 10-9. Utah dominated the third game, jumping out to leads of 7-0 and 12-1.
Utah hosts UTEP on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. at Crimson Court.
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