Upcoming Event: Volleyball versus Weber State (Exhibition) on August 15, 2026 at 3:00 P.M.
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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Volleyball Reaches Another Level In 1999
7/24/2000 12:00 AM | Volleyball
July 24, 2000
A young and inexperienced Utah volleyball team quickly found its own identity in 1999. Utah made its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and as in 1998, advanced to the second round. The Utes, seeded No. 9 in the Mountain Region, defeated eighth-seeded Colorado in three games (15-10, 15-6, 17-15) in the first round and lost to top-seeded Hawaii in three games (15-11, 15-6, 15-4) in the second round at the sub regional in Honolulu.
"I think 1998 legitimized our program, and last year solidified it as one of the top teams in the country," commented head coach Beth Launiere. It also allowed us to have a plateau to work from again, and obviously it's a higher plateau than from two years ago."
With a 22-10 overall record, Utah posted 20 wins for the fourth straight year and the fifth time in its history. The Utes' .688 overall winning percentage equaled the third-best in school history. Utah also equaled the third-best conference winning percentage in school history (.714) last season with a 10-4 mark. The Utes finished third in the MWC, marking its fifth consecutive upper-division finish in conference play. Utah received 31 votes to rank 29th in the final USA Today/AVCA Top 25 Poll. The final RPI ranking produced by the NCAA had Utah as 22nd in the nation and the Mountain West Conference as the third-best league.
"I had no idea how well we would do, going into the season with eight newcomers, but the team came together as a group incredibly well for so many new people," says Launiere. "Everyone accepted their roles and we gelled together as a group. Those are all the intangible things that it takes to accomplish what we accomplished last year. We weren't sure how we were going to win, but we all had confidence that we would find a way to win."
Leading the way was starting setter Graciela Torres-Lopez.
"Graciela ran the offense for us for four straight years and knew our system extremely well," says Launiere. Her competitive drive, physical strength and experience will be missed."
Torres-Lopez graduated from the Utah program after posting some remarkable career numbers from 1996-99. She ranks number one in career assists with 5,130. Torres-Lopez also left her mark in the Utah record books as the single-match leader in assists in three games (51), and is listed four times in the individual season records section. She was a second-team all-MWC selection and ranked among the MWC top 10 individual leaders in hitting percentage and assists.
Utah participated in three tournaments that featured Top-25 competition, as well as top region teams. The Utes won the Texas Tech Four Points Sheraton Classic at Lubbock, Texas, on Sept. 3-4. They virtually swept the competition, winning three out of the four matches 3-0. Utah defeated SMU (3-0), Wright State (3-0), North Carolina State (3-1), and host Texas Tech (3-0). A week later, Utah captured third place at the State Farm Illini Classic in Champaign, Ill., Sept. 10-11. The Utes lost a heartbreaker to Georgia, 3-2, but bounced back the next day to defeat George Mason in three games, to secure a third-place finish. At the Pac 10/Mountain West Conference Challenge, Utah lost to Stanford, 3-0 and defeated California , 3-1, at Palo Alto, Calif., Sept. 24-25.
Utah won its first four conference matches of the 1999 season. They finished their conference schedule 10-4, suffering losses only to No. 12 Colorado State and No. 13 Brigham Young. At the inaugural Mountain West Conference Tournament, the Utes lost to Colorado State in the semi-finals, 3-2. Utah was one of three MWC teams to received a bid to the NCAA Tournament, and the second Ute team to do so
All but one loss was to Top-25 teams. Nine of Utah's wins came in three games, 10 were in four games and three wins came in five games. Four of Utah's 10 losses came in five games.
The Utes piled up numerous honors along the way. Utah had four players selected as members of the inaugural all-Mountain West Conference team. Sophomore middle blocker McKelle Stilson was a first-team selection. Along with Torres-Lopez, sophomore outside hitter Alisa Geddes was a second-team pick and junior Brook Barton was named the second-team defensive specialist. Stilson was also an all-MWC Tournament selection. Jennifer Snow-Richards, Lucie Turkov?, Megan Anderson, Brenda Beal, Barton and Stilson earned academic all-MWC honors in 1999.
Utah ranked 29th in the nation in home match attendance, drawing 9,234 fans for an average of 770 fans per match.
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