Ute Volleyball Clips the Falcons, 3-1

Friday, October 1

Colorado Springs, Colo.

7:00 PM

University of Utah

Air Force*

10/2/2004 12:00 AM | Volleyball

Oct. 1, 2004

Box Score

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The University of Utah women's volleyball team won its seventh straight match and improved to 2-0 in Mountain West Conference play with a 3-1 win over Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo., this evening.

Game scores were 25-30, 30-16, 30-23 and 30-27. Utah ups to 10-2 overall while Air Force stumbles to 4-8 overall and remain winless in conference tilts at 0-3.

"We are struggling a little bit right now," said head coach Beth Launiere. "We are not executing like we were earlier in the season. But, we settled in after the first game tonight and we started to play a lot better. However, we need to come out in game one with a higher level of execution.

"Teams are starting to come at us aggressively and we need to be prepared for every match."

Liana Bortoto led the way for the spikers as she racked up a career high 18 kills and hit a match-high .452 (18-4-31). Bortoto chalked up a double-double with 13 digs as well. She led the three-pronged attack with Shelly Sommerfeldt chipping in with 16 kills of her own.

Lyndsey Henderson was the third member of the offensive trio to tally double-digit kills. She tallied her ninth straight double-digit kill outing by bagging 11. Henderson also led the defense with her match-high seven blocks. Connie Dangerfield's 16 digs led all players as well.

Tracy Neumeier and Kelsie Kartchner set the attack. Kartchner's 28 assists led the tandem but Neumeier finished with 27 herself.

Air Force Lamecca Jefferson led the way for the home team with 17 kills. Kristin Hamlett's six blocks led the Falcons as did Carly Siefken's double-double of 11 digs and a match-leading 40 assists.

The Utes held the Falcon offense to a paltry .098 hitting percentage (46 kills, 32 errors on 143 attack attempts) while Utah tallied the victory hitting .293 (64-23-140) for the match.

Despite out hitting their rivals in the first game, the Utes rallied after the game-one loss to hit better than .300 in both games two and three. It hit a match-best .378 (19-5-37) in the third frame. The Falcons never hit better than their game-one average of .235 (15-7-34).

The Utes return to action on Saturday night when they battle the Lobos of New Mexico in Albuquerque, N.M. Match time is set for 7 p.m.