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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Volleyball Weekly Notes
10/11/2004 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 11, 2004
Complete Release Plus Overall and Conference Stats in PDF Format
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What's on Tap?
The No. 18-ranked (USA Today/CSTV coaches poll) University of Utah women's volleyball team (13-2, 5-0 Mountain West) hits the road for a pair of conference matches this weekend. The Utes lock horns with the No. 7-ranked Colorado State Rams (Friday, Oct. 15) and the Wyoming Cowgirls (Saturday, Oct. 16). Both matches are slated to start at 7 p.m.
Scouting the Opposition:
Colorado State (13-1, 5-0 Mountain West) and Utah will be battling for the top spot in the Mountain West Conference. CSU has won 13 straight since dropping the season-opener to No. 5-ranked Minnesota. The Rams are the only other team (along with Utah) that's perfect in MWC matches at 5-0. The Rams are tops in the conference in hitting (.303), kills per game (17.38) and assists per game (16.06). Katie Shirley-Cahoon leads the Ram attack with a team-best 3.06 kills per game and a .394 hitting percentage. Melissa Courtney guides the Ram attack, averaging 13.83 assists while Kristen Karlik (3.19 digs per game) and Bri Frech (1.44 blocks per game) lead CSU defensively.
Wyoming (8-8, 2-3 Mountain West) has dropped three straight matches and begins play this week by hosting BYU on Friday, Oct. 15. However, the Cowgirls are an impressive 5-1 on their home court this year and have yet to drop a home conference match, going 2-0. Sara Maytorena leads the UW attack. She averages 3.85 kills per game (second best in the conference) and is hitting .291 for the season. Amy Doman's 12.82 assists leads all Cowgirls as does Rachael Booth's 3.92 digs and Lauren Scott's 1.25 assists.
Series Records:
Utah and Colorado State will toil for the 56th time in their respective histories. The Rams own the all-time series lead, 39-17. CSU won all three matches in 2003 by the same score of 3-1 and has won five straight over the Utes. The last time Utah edged the Rams was in the 2001 Mountain West Conference Tournament championship match, 3-2. Utah is 30-23 all-time versus Wyoming. The Utes won all three meetings in 2003. Two matches were by scores of 3-0 while the third was 3-2. The last Cowgirl victory in the series was in October of 2002.
Quoting Head Coach Beth Launiere:
On CSU and Wyoming: "We have been looking forward to playing CSU all season long. It's a big match - we've been talking about it for a long time. But, it's still early in the conference and there's a lot of the season left to play.
"Wyoming is going to be just as tough as Colorado State. Laramie is a difficult place to play and Wyoming has a lot of talent. We have to prepare to play two very tough matches this weekend and we have to take it one match at a time.
On UNLV and San Diego State last week: "I think that our execution got better last weekend. I like how we tended to our blocking, serving and defense. We did all three very well in our last two matches."
Last Week:
The Utes won their ninth and 10th straight by topping conference rivals UNLV (3-1) and San Diego State (3-0) last weekend.
A trio of Utes led the attack against UNLV as Utah hit .213 for the match to the Rebels' .073. Lyndsey Henderson led the way with 14 kills (and 13 blocks) while Shelly Sommerfeldt finished with 13 kills and Liana Bortoto with 12. The Utes couldn't counter UNLV's attack (.282-.132) in the game two loss. However, the Rebels never hit better than .085 in the other three games and were out blocked, 16.5-9.0.
Utah returned to the court to sweep SDSU Saturday. The Aztecs out hit the Utes in game one (.318-.308) but couldn't hold on, dropping a 33-31 decision. The Utes pulled together in games two and three, hitting .274 during that span. The Aztecs hit progressively worse, finishing with a game-three total of .000. The Utes held the 15.5-5.0 edge in blocks. Henderson's 14 kills led the way and was coupled with Sommerfeldt's 11. Henderson finished with a match-high seven blocks as well.
Weekly Stats:
National Rankings: As of 10/3, Lyndsey Henderson is 19th in blocks per game (1.62) while the team ranks 15th (3.10). Utah's .846 winning percentage ranks 22nd. Note: NCAA stats are updated every Tuesday.
Mountain West Individual Stats: Lyndsey Henderson is second in blocks per game (1.77), fifth in hitting percentage (.330) and sixth in kills (3.49); Danielle Leichliter is fifth in service aces per game (0.36); Connie Dangerfield is third in digs (4.00); Amie Toone is fourth in blocks (1.26) and 12th in hitting percentage (.266); Tracy Neumeier is eighth in assists (6.10) and 11th in digs (2.48); Kelsie Kartchner is ninth in assists (5.98); Shelly Sommerfeldt is 15th in aces (0.27) and 17th in kills (2.86); Emillie Toone ranks 13th in blocks (1.00).
Mountain West Team Stats: Utah is tops in opponent hitting percentage (.129); second in blocks (3.28); second in digs (14.66); third in service aces (1.78); it is fourth in hitting (.228); fifth in kills (14.57); fifth in assists (13.17).
It's A Win-Win-Win-Win...Situation:
The Utes continue their winning ways, having rattled off 10 straight wins since dropping a 3-2 decision at UC Irvine on Sept. 6. The 10 wins matches the 10-0 run the 2001 team tallied and is one shy of the 11 straight by the 1978 and 1997 teams. The 11 straight wins is the longest winning streak in program history. Not only has the team won 10 straight, but it is a perfect 7-0 on Crimson Court this season. Moreover, the Utes haven't lost at home since dropping a 3-1 match to Colorado State on Sept. 27, 2003. Utah has won 13 straight home matches during that span, the longest home winning streak in the conference.
"Toone" in:
Middle blocker Amie Toone returned to early-season form in the two matches last weekend. Toone matched her career high with eight blocks against San Diego State. The American Fork Native also hit a swift .545 against UNLV (eight kills, two errors, 11 attempts) and hit .393 for the weekend (16-5-28). Her hitting average for the season upped to .266 (which now ranks 12th in the conference) while her blocks-per-game average bumped up to 1.26 (fourth in the conference).
Lucky Number 13?:
Lyndsey Henderson continues to stymie opponents hitters. Last weekend, the 6-4 middle blocker averaged a whopping 2.86 blocks per game. Her average was buoyed by a 13-block performance against UNLV. The 13 blocks was a career high. After last weekend's showing, Henderson upped her average from 1.62 blocks to 1.77. Moreover, her blocks-per-game average jumps to 2.05 per game in conference play. Both marks rank second in the conference.
Conference Call:
Liana Bortoto has stepped it up since the conference season began at BYU on Sept. 24. Hitting a mere .195 for the season and averaging 2.34 kills, Bortoto's numbers up to .260 and 2.89, respectively, in conference tilts. The outside hitter had a career-high 18 kills against Air Force and has had double-digit kills in three of the five MWC matches.
Potent Notables:
Utah continues to work its way up the USA Today/CSTV coaches poll. The Utes check in at No. 18 this week, leapfrogging from No. 20 last week. The Utes have been in the poll four straight weeks. No. 18 is the highest ranking yet this season ... Lyndsey Henderson has tallied double-digit kills in 13 straight matches. She has led the team in kills on eight occasions this year, and in six of the last seven ... head coach Beth Launiere is 12 wins shy of tallying 300 career victories ... Utah is 2-2 against teams mentioned in the USA Today/CSTV coaches poll. It beat No. 6 UCLA (3-2) and Saint Mary's (3-1) which was receiving votes. The Utes dropped matches to Long Beach State (3-1) and UC Irvine (3-2), which were also receiving votes at the time. LBSU is still receiving votes while Saint Mary's has climbed to No. 14. Three matches still remain against ranked teams (two versus No. 7 Colorado State, one versus No. 4 Hawaii) ... Utah is 2-1 in five-game matches, beating UCLA and New Mexico and falling to UC Irvine ... the Utes have played two extra-point games this year, edging Long Beach State, 31-29, and San Diego State, 33-31. Both extra-point affairs were game ones ... Utah is 6-0 in games settled by two points ... The Utes are 12-3 in game one, 13-2 in game three, 8-2 in game four and 2-1 in game five. Utah opponents own the edge in game two, though, 8-7. However, Utah is 5-0 in game threes in which it has won the first two games.
At The Helm:
Beth Launiere is in her 15th season as the mentor of the Utah women's volleyball program. She owns a 288-173 all-time record. She has led her squad to NCAA Tournament appearances the last six seasons, including a "Sweet 16" showing in 2001. Following the "Sweet 16" showing, Launiere was named the 2001 Tachikara/AVCA Division I West Region Coach of the Year. Launiere's Utes have recorded nine 20-win seasons, and last year, Utah posted a school-record 12 conference victories. A native of Grand Rapids, Mich., Launiere graduated from Aquinas College and was an assistant at Ferris State and Illinois before taking over the Ute program in 1990.
On the Air:
Radio broadcasts and live video streaming of home volleyball games will be available on the Internet at the official athletics Web site, www.UtahUtes.com. In addition, the Nov. 13 home match against Colorado State will be televised on College Sports TV (CSTV). It will air on tape delay on Nov. 14 at 2:30 p.m. (MST). Check with your local cable or satellite provider for more information on CSTV.
Up Next:
The Utes return to host a four-match home stand. Utah hosts Notre Dame (Tuesday, Oct. 19), BYU (Saturday, Oct. 23), New Mexico (Friday, Oct. 29) and Air Force (Saturday, Oct. 30). All matches are at Crimson Court. They all start at 7 p.m., except BYU which start at 1 p.m.
Players Mentioned
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