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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Volleyball Notes
11/25/2003 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 25, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY -
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COMING UP:
Utah (20-8) hosts Eastern Michigan (21-10) at 7 p.m. this Saturday, Nov. 29, for Senior Night at Crimson Court. Utah's three seniors -- Taryn Horner, Jackie Morrill and Kim Turner will all be honored prior to the match.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH:
After sweeping past Wyoming and Brigham Young in the first two rounds, Utah fell to No. 14 Colorado State 3-1 (26-30, 30-23, 20-30, 28-30) in the championship match of the Mountain West Conference Tournament last Saturday. Senior All-America candidate Kim Turner and sophomore Shelly Sommerfeldt were named to the all-tournament team and senior Jackie Morrill was named the tournament's Top Libero. The Utes hit for .297 on the match, compared to the .320 of the Rams. CSU out-blocked Utah 8-7, but the Utes notched one more kill than the Rams (69-68). Junior Lyndsey Henderson led a group of four Utes in double-digit kills with a career-high 18. Turner finished with 16, while Sommerfeldt notched 15 and sophomore Danielle Leichliter had 10. Turner and Leichliter each added four blocks, while Henderson had three. Morrill finished with a match-high 20 digs, while Turner added nine. Junior setters Kelsie Kartchner and Tracy Neumeier dished out 31 and 24 assists, respectively.
On the season, the Utes are led by Turner, who averages 4.22 kills, 2.15 digs and 1.49 blocks. Sommerfeldt adds 3.68 kills per game, while Morrill averages a team-high 3.38 digs per game. Neumeier averages 8.74 assists per game, while Kartchner has an 8.21 assists per game average.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION:
Eastern Michigan
The Eagles were swept by Ball State in the second round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament last Friday. Bethany Piccolini had a team-high 12 kills, while Emily Busch and Jennifer Nighswander added 11 apiece. Nighswander led a group of five Eagles in double-figure digs with 18. Setter Lauren Viney added 17, Piccolini had 16, Ashley Cudney chipped in 14 and Becky Baltare finished with 11. Viney also dished out 43 assists in the loss.
Eastern Michigan is led this season by Busch, with 3.53 kills per game, and Nighswander, who averages 3.41 kills and 4.64 digs per game. Viney averages 12.61 assists and 3.18 digs per game, while Cudney adds 3.82 digs per game.
SERIES SHORTS:
* The Utes lead the all-time series with Eastern Michigan 1-0. The only time the two teams met, on Sept. 1, 2000, Utah won 3-0 in Durham, N.C. The Utes are 0-0 at home, 0-0 away and 1-0 at a neutral site vs. the Eagles.
QUOTING HEAD COACH Beth Launiere:
On playing a match after the MWC Tournament - "No conference wants to hold its tournament on Thanksgiving weekend, so teams end up having this weekend off. As a result, it's become a tradition in volleyball to play non-conference matches after the conference tournaments are held. Different teams and coaches use these matches for different purposes. It keeps you ready for the NCAAs."
On closing out regular-season play - "After the conference championship match, nobody felt like we were finished. This match is obviously exciting because it's Senior Night, but we're also excited to continue to prepare for the NCAAs. It doesn't matter who we play or where we get sent. We don't feel like the season is winding down. We feel like our best volleyball is yet to come."
USA Today/AVCA TOP 25 NOV. 24, 2003
Rank School Total 2003 Last (1st-place Votes) Points Record Week1 USC (65) 1,625 27-0 1 2 Hawai'i 1,549 30-1 2 3 Florida 1,503 31-1 3 4 Pepperdine 1,425 24-2 4 5 Kansas State 1,357 27-3 5 6 Stanford 1,307 21-6 7 7 UCLA 1,179 21-7 8 8 California 1,132 21-6 9 9 Georgia Tech 1,078 30-2 6 10 Nebraska 1,073 25-4 10 11 Penn State 890 26-4 15 12 Colorado State 879 27-4 14 13 Santa Clara 872 20-9 13 14 Washington 798 19-8 11 15 Loyola Marymount 657 25-6 16 16 Northern Iowa 584 25-5 12 17 Louisville 578 22-4 18 18 Illinois 515 23-5 20 19 Minnesota 437 21-9 22 20 Notre Dame 310 23-5 17 21 Arizona 304 16-13 25 22 UC Santa Barbara 259 18-8 19 23 SW Missouri State 182 26-4 24 24 Texas A&M 136 20-8 21 25 Maryland 75 26-7 NR
Others receiving points and listed on two or more ballots: Pittsburgh 60, Michigan State 59, Florida A&M 55, Colorado 47, Ohio 35, San Francisco 35, Wisconsin 30, Arkansas 23, Cincinnati 20, Utah 16, Kansas 15, UC Irvine 4.
MWC STANDINGS
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct.Colorado State 14 0 1.000 27 4 .871UTAH 12 2 .857 20 8 .714 BYU 10 4 .714 21 8 .724 San Diego State 7 7 .500 18 14 .563 Wyoming 4 10 .286 15 16 .484 Air Force 4 10 .286 14 15 .483 UNLV 4 10 .286 11 17 .393 New Mexico 1 13 .071 4 25 .138
TURNER TIED FOR FIRST ALL-TIME IN KILLS AT UTAH:
Senior All-America candidate Kim Turner notched her 1,565th career kill in Saturday's match against CSU, tying her with Brenda Barton-Whicker (1994-97) for first place all-time in the Ute record book. Turner also ranks first in total blocks (653), block assists (577) and hitting percentage (.324), third in block solos (76) and fourth in attempts (3,202).
MORRILL CLOSING IN ON 1,000 DIGS:
Senior libero Jackie Morrill has 990 digs on her career, good for fifth-place all-time in the Utah record books. With a season average of 3.38 per game, Morrill should move into the 1,000-dig club in Saturday's match against Eastern Michigan.
STEADY SOMMERFELDT:
Sophomore Shelly Sommerfeldt has posted double-digit kills in 23 of 28 matches this season. Her 15-match streak was ended in Utah's three-game win over Air Force on Oct. 31.
BLOCKING MACHINE:
Kim Turner, the all-time Utah blocks leader, has recorded at least one block in the last 122 matches, dating back to her freshman year in 2000. In fact, the senior has at least one block in 124 of the 125 matches of her career at Utah. The only match in which she didn't record a block was Sept. 2, 2000, against New Hampshire, in just the third match of her career.
TURNER, MORRILL, SOMMERFELDT NAMED ALL-MWC:
For the second year in a row, Utah volleyball player Kim Turner was named MWC Co-Player of the Year. In addition, senior libero Jackie Morrill was named the conference's Top Libero, while sophomore Shelly Sommerfeldt was named to the 14-member all-conference team.
Turner, who was named MWC Player of the Week four times this season, shared the top honor with Colorado State setter Melissa Courtney. Turner is the first four-time all-conference honoree in MWC history. She led the conference in hitting percentage (.434) and points per game (5.61), and ranked second in kills (4.53) and blocks (1.47).
Morrill, who leads the Utes in digs, was named the Top Libero at the Utah Classic. In conference play, she ranked second in digs with a 3.53 average. Her 180 digs in MWC matches was the third best in the history of the league.
Sommerfeldt ranked seventh in the conference in points per game (4.07) and ninth in kills per game (3.51). She was named to the all-tournament team at the Utah Classic.
TURNER NAMED FIRST-TEAM ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT:
Kim Turner, co-captain of the Utah women's volleyball team, was recently named to the Academic All-District VIII Team. Turner garnered first-team honors with a 3.646 GPA as an elementary education major. As a first-team selection, she now advances to the national ballot, the results of which will be announced on Thursday, Dec. 4.
TURNER MWC PLAYER OF WEEK NOV. 9-15:
Kim Turner was named MWC Player of the Week for Nov. 9-15 after guiding Utah to road wins over San Diego State and UNLV. She hit more than .400 higher than her season average vs. the Aztecs as she totaled 20 kills in 25 attempts with just one error for a .760 clip. She also added four digs and four blocks. The All-America candidate hit .476 (25-5-42) vs. UNLV on Saturday, notching a career-high 25 kills. She added four digs and six blocks vs. the Rebels. For the week, Turner averaged 5.62 kills, 1.0 digs and 1.25 blocks per game, while hitting .582 (45-6-67).
KARTCHNER MWC CO-PLAYER OF WEEK NOV. 2-8:
Utah's Kelsie Kartchner was named MWC Co-Player of the Week for Nov. 2-8. She shared the honor with CSU middle blocker Katie Jo Shirley. Kartchner is a first-time award winner. Kartchner showed her versatility by playing outside hitter and setter in Utah's 6-2 offensive scheme last week. She posted her second triple-double of the season with 11 kills, 25 assists and 12 digs in a 3-1 victory over BYU, marking the Utes' seventh straight win over the Cougars. Kartchner also posted four blocks, including two solos, and hit .381 (11-3-21). She averaged 2.75 kills, 6.25 assists, 3.0 digs and 1.0 blocks per game.
TURNER MWC PLAYER OF WEEK OCT. 27-NOV. 1:
Middle blocker Kim Turner was named MWC Player of the Week for Oct. 27-Nov. 1. Turner helped the Utes to a pair of wins over Air Force and New Mexico last week. She hit more than .200 above her season average last week as she put away 25 kills in 40 attempts for a .525 efficiency. She was hitting .319 entering last week's competition. The All-America candidate hit .647 (12-1-17) with five digs and five blocks vs. the Falcons, followed by a .435 mark (13-3-23) with eight digs and six blocks vs. the Lobos. For the week, Turner averaged 4.17 kills, 2.17 digs and 1.83 blocks per game.
TURNER MWC PLAYER OF WEEK OCT. 12-18:
Senior captain Kim Turner was named MWC Player of the Week for Oct. 12-18, after helping the Utes to wins over UNLV and San Diego State. After dropping the first game of the UNLV match, Turner paced a Utah rally by recording her second triple-double of the year with 20 kills, 13 digs and 10 blocks, including three solo blocks, while hitting .467 vs. the Rebels. In the victory over San Diego State, she hit .500 with 14 kills, six digs and eight blocks. For the week, Turner hit .480 (34-10-50) and averaged 4.86 kills, 2.71 digs, 2.57 blocks and .43 aces per game.
TURNER MWC PLAYER OF WEEK SEPT. 1-6:
Kim Turner was named MWC Player of the Week for Sept. 1-6. Turner was named MVP of the Utah Classic for the third straight year as she helped the Utes capture the championship. In a five-game win vs. Washington State, Turner posted a triple double (15 kills, 15 digs, 11 blocks) and set Classic five-game records with nine block assists and three aces. For the week, Turner hit .284 and averaged 3.55 kills, 2.82 digs and 1.82 blocks per game.
INTERNET AUDIO/VIDEO BROADCASTS:
All of Utah's home matches can be seen and heard on the Internet through live audio and video streaming. To listen/watch, go to: http://155.99.112.235/vball/. You can also go to the volleyball page at www.UtahUtes.com and click on "Watch/Listen to Ute Home Matches Live."
UP NEXT:
Utah will find out its postseason fate at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 30, during the NCAA Selection Show.
Get to know new Utah Volleyball Head Coach Alyssa D'Errico.
Wednesday, December 10
Utah Volleyball Press Conference - 12.10.25
Wednesday, December 10
ESPN+ Feature | Utah Volleyball's Leah Wilton-LaBoy
Thursday, November 20
ESPN+ Feature | Utah Volleyball's Devyn Weist
Thursday, November 06