Volleyball Stumbles on the Road

Wednesday, September 28

Provo, Utah

7:00 PM

University of Utah

BYU

9/28/2005 12:00 AM | Volleyball

Sept. 28, 2005

Box Score

PROVO, Utah - The University of Utah volleyball team came out sharp in game one but the No. 20-ranked Brigham Young Cougars rallied to snag the 3-1 home victory here tonight.

It's a bittersweet evening as outside hitter Shelly Sommerfeldt reached a career milestone in the loss. The Orem, Utah, native tallied 16 kills and hung her 1,000th career kill on the board at the beginning of game four. She has 1,004 career kills after tonight.

Game scores were 24- 30, 30-26, 30-24 and 30-25. Utah falls to 9-5 for the year and to 1-2 in the conference. BYU tallies its first win in 11 tries against Utah. It remains a perfect 10-0 on the season and 3-0 in loop action.

"I believe that BYU played a great match tonight," remarked head coach Beth Launiere. "It got stronger as the match went on and deserves all the credit for winning.

"We played well at times but we couldn't sustain it. I'm proud of how well we played, though, with four freshmen in the lineup. Every experience is new for us. We're not a veteran-savvy team. But, we've learned a lot in the first half of the season and I'm looking forward to what we can do in the second half."

Sommerfeldt also turned in her usual double-double, scooping up 13 digs. Freshman Lori Baird was another bright spot for the Utes, she hit a team-best .346 and was second on the team in both kills (14) and blocks (five).

Freshman Airial Salvo nearly turned in a triple-double on the night. She had 12 kills and 15 digs. She was three-blocks shy of the feat, chalking up a team-best seven total blocks in the effort.

The bulk of the attack ran through Shannon Krug who recorded 44 assists in leading the team to a .193 hitting percentage. Karlie Porter came off the bench at 15-10 of game three and added another seven helpers on the night.

BYU becomes the first team to out-block the Utes this season, 14-12. Salvo and Baird led the way for the Utes at the net. Amie Tingey and Kathryn Lovell chimed in with three total blocks of their own.

Salvo and Sommerfeldt were the team's digs leaders with 15 and 13, resepectively. Danielle Leichliter was the only other double-digit digs leader on the team. She had 10 on the night.

Games one and two were tight affairs. Utah never trailed in game one and out-hit the Cougars, .286-194. However, Utah trailed by three for most of game two. But, it engineered a 7-0 run to take the lead away from BYU, 26-23. BYU countered with a rally of its own to take the game-two win and to tie the match at 1-1.

Momentum remained with the home team in games three and four. BYU's offense was on the mark as it hit .333 (to Utah's .158) in game three and out-hit the Utes, .146-.062, in game four. The Cougars led for the bulk of the final two stanzas as Utah couldn't seem to get closer than three points in the two losses.

BYU hit .230 for the night, led by Chelsea Goodman with a match-high 17 kills. Lauren Evans recorded 52 assists. Linsdey Evans led the team in digs (20) while Lindsy Hartsock did so in blocks (six total).

The Utes return to action for a home date on Saturday, Oct. 1. They welcome TCU to the Mountain West Conference when the two meet at Crimson Court at 7 p.m.