Utah Volleyball Defeats Eastern Michigan On Senior Night

Saturday, November 29

Salt Lake City, Utah

7:00 PM

University of Utah

Eastern Michigan

Utah Volleyball Defeats Eastern Michigan On Senior Night

11/29/2003 12:00 AM | Volleyball

It was a night of milestones, tears and great volleyball as the Utes defeated Eastern Michigan in four games (30-23, 29-31, 30-25, 30-21) at Crimson Court tonight. Utah wraps up its regular season with a 21-8 overall record and now waits to hear if it will make a sixth-straight NCAA appearance. The NCAA selection show will take place at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 30.

The night began with Utah honoring its three seniors Kim Turner, Jackie Morrill and Taryn Horner. "I love these three seniors," Head Coach Beth Launiere. "They are a very hardworking group and deserve everything they've earned."

Turner entered tonight's match needing just one kill to break the career kills record, as she was tied at 1,565 with Brenda Barton-Whicker. The senior made quick work of the record, ripping a kill on just the second point of the match. She would finish with 18 kills, 12 blocks and seven digs. The 12 blocks was a season high for her.

"I remember thinking two years ago that I would never reach the kills record," Turner said. "It's hard to put into words what I'm feeling. This is a great group of girls so to finish off with them -- well I guess it's amazing."

Morrill came into the match needing 10 digs to join the 1,000 digs club. She notched her 1,000th dig in the second game and went on to finish with 16 on the night.

Leading the way offensively for Utah was junior Lyndsey Henderson. Henderson posted a new career high with 20 kills. "Lyndsey has been red-hot lately," noted Launiere. "Through the second-half of the season she has quietly been becoming a dominant player."

Shelly Sommerfeldt rounded out the three in double figure kills with 16. She led the way in the first game with 10. Kelsie Kartchner also posted a strong match with seven kills, 24 assists and 10 digs.

The first game proved to be a tight one, but saw the Utes rally off five-straight points to increase their advantage to 29-22. After an Eagle point, Sommerfeldt posted a kill to give Utah the first game victory (23-30). The Utes hit .439, while holding the Eagles to .132.

Despite having three players in double-figure kills by the end of the second game, Utah could not pull out a game-two victory. Eastern Michigan used an array of long rallies and great digs to earn the 31-29 win. There were 11 ties in the game, making it the most exciting of the night.

In game three, Utah jumped out to a four-point advantage (14-10) after a monstrous kill by Turner. Turner and Henderson begin to dominate the game, leading Utah to a 30-25 win.

The Utes trailed just once in game four (3-2), en route to a 30-21 win. The two middles continued their strong play as Turner tied her season high 11 blocks to give Utah a 12-9 advantage. With a 26-18 lead, Connie Dangerfield dropped two aces on the Eagles to secure the win.

"I thought Eastern Michigan played well. They dug a lot of balls we hit at them that we usually get down," noted Launiere. "We're playing good volleyball right now and we've become a pretty good team. The team is close and the leadership and chemistry are good."