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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Volleyball Notes
10/21/2002 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 21, 2002
SALT LAKE CITY -
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THIS WEEK: No. 22 Utah (14-6, 4-3) hosts San Diego State and UNLV for 7:00 p.m. matches on Friday, Oct. 25, and Saturday, Oct. 26, at Crimson Court.
REVIEWING LAST WEEK: Utah is coming off back-to-back conference losses against Colorado State and Wyoming. The Utes were swept (19-30, 28-30, 23-30) by Wyoming last Friday before losing 1-3 (27-30, 19-30, 30-23, 21-30) at CSU on Saturday. It was the first time since the 2000 season that Utah has dropped consecutive conference matches.
October 21, 2002 USA Today/AVCA Top 25
Rank School Total 2002 Last 1st-place Votes) Points Record Week1 USC (59) 1619 16-0 1 2 Hawai'i (6) 1553 15-0 2 3 Florida 1484 18-1 3 4 Nebraska 1444 17-1 4 5 UC Santa Barbara 1357 19-0 5 6 Stanford 1306 16-3 6 7 Long Beach State 1232 18-1 7 8 Minnesota 1166 20-3 9 9 Penn State 1051 17-2 8 10 Northern Iowa 1025 20-2 10 11 North Carolina 984 20-1 11 12 Pepperdine 918 12-6 12 13 UCLA 810 12-7 13 14 Santa Clara 721 16-3 14 15 Wisconsin 634 14-5 18 16 Arizona 553 10-7 19 17 Eastern Washington 494 20-1 15 18 Arizona State 480 10-4 21 19 Missouri 391 17-3 22 20 Washington State 343 14-5 17 21 South Carolina 305 16-3 2422 UTAH 234 14-6 16 23 Texas 227 16-3 25 24 Georgia Tech 188 20-4 20 25 Michigan State 181 12-6 23
Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: California (122), San Diego (121), Fresno State (40), Washington (27), Notre Dame (27), Louisville (24), Kansas State (19), Ohio State (15), Akron (4), Indiana (4). Eight teams mentioned on only one ballot for a total of 22 combined points.
MWC STANDINGS
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct.Colorado State 6 1 .857 14 7 .667 San Diego State 6 1 .857 15 9 .625UTAH 4 3 .571 14 6 .700 BYU 4 3 .400 9 12 .429 Wyoming 3 4 .429 17 5 .773 Air Force 2 5 .286 8 13 .381 UNLV 2 5 .286 6 14 .300 New Mexico 1 6 .143 6 14 .300
SERIES SHORTS:
* Utah is 9-16 all-time against San Diego State. In their last meeting on Sept. 29, the Aztecs won 3-2 in San Diego. The Utes are 6-6 at home, 2-10 away and 1-0 at a neutral site against San Diego State.
* The Utes lead the all-time series with UNLV 12-1. The last time the two teams met, on Sept. 27 in Las Vegas, Utah won 3-1. The Utes are 4-0 at home, 7-1 away and 1-0 at a neutral site vs. the Rebels.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
San Diego State - The Aztecs (15-9, 6-1) are tied for first place in the Mountain West Conference after victories last weekend over Air Force (30-16, 30-15, 30-16) and New Mexico (32-30, 26-30, 30-24, 30-22). San Diego State is led by Zlatina Anguelova, Rochelle Currier and Aspen McPartland with 3.19, 3.11 and 2.94 kills per game averages, respectively. McPartland also leads the team in digs with a 3.15 per game average. Setter Melissa Wright averages 11.39 assists per game, while Nicole Akporiaye leads the Aztecs with a 1.42 blocks per game average.
As a team, San Diego State leads the conference in digs per game (14.85), is third in hitting percentage (.244) and ranks fourth in assists (13.24), kills (15.10) and blocks (2.86).
UNLV - The Rebels (6-14, 2-5) went 2-0 last week with wins over Air Force (30-26, 30-22, 27-30, 30-22) and New Mexico (30-15, 30-28, 30-25). UNLV is led by Tarin Keith and Patricia Assuncao, who average 3.16 and 3.04 kills per game, respectively. Setter Nicki King averages 10.75 assists per game, while Sheila Ocasio-Clemente averages 1.16 blocks per game.
QUOTING HEAD COACH BETH LAUNIERE:
On the upcoming matches against San Diego State and UNLV -"These are really important matches. Obviously with San Diego State in the driver's seat, a win against them would do a lot for us. We need to beat both teams to put ourselves in a better position in the conference."
MWC LEADERS: As a team, Utah leads the MWC in opponent hitting percentage (.153) and blocks per game (3.42), ranks second in assists per game (13.97) and third in kills per game (15.32). In conference matches, the Utes rank second in opponent hitting percentage, kills, blocks and assists.
Individually, junior Kim Turner leads the conference in blocks per game (1.47), while sophomore Lyndsey Phillips is second (1.42) and senior Brenda Beal is sixth (1.22). Turner also ranks fifth in kills per game (3.78) and 14th in service aces (0.31), while Phillips is 11th in hitting percentage (.286). Sylva Strzinkova ranks third in the league in kills per game (4.04), tied for seventh in service aces (0.34) and 13th in digs per game (2.41). Jackie Morrill is sixth in digs per game with a 3.01 average and sophomore Kelsie Kartchner is sixth in service aces (0.41).
In statistics for conference matches only, Strzinkov? is second in kills (4.19) and 11th in both digs (2.27) and service aces (0.35). Turner ranks third in kills (4.12), 11th in blocks (1.12) and 12th in hitting percentage (.291). Phillips is sixth in blocks (1.33) and 10th in hitting percentage (.305), while Beal is eighth in blocks (1.22). Meanwhile, Morrill is sixth in digs (3.15) and Kartchner is fifth in assists (11.27) and eighth in service aces (0.38).
HOME SWEET HOME: Heading into this weekend's matches against San Diego State and UNLV, the Utes have a 26-match home winning streak that dates back to the 2000 season. Utah, 9-0 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: Kim Turner ranks third all-time in block assists (364), just eight away from second place, and fifth in total blocks (411). With 272 kills on the season, she needs just 59 more to join the 1,000-kills club.
NEXT WEEK: The Utes host Utah State at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 29, before facing Air Force and New Mexico for the first time this season. Utah plays at Air Force on Friday Nov. 1, and at New Mexico on Saturday, Nov. 2. Both matches start at 7:00 p.m. (PST).
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