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Friday, November 14
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University of Utah
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BYU
No. 23 Utah Volleyball Tops BYU In Five Sets
11/14/2008 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 14, 2008
SALT LAKE CITY - Middle blocker Karolina Bartkowiak tied her season high with 13 kills and also pitched in three digs and two blocks as the 23rd-ranked University of Utah volleyball team completed its season-sweep of BYU with a five-set win (25-16, 29-31, 16-25, 25-20, 15-11) in the final Deseret First Duel match Friday at Crimson Court.
Utah (20-5, 12-2 MWC) won its 12th consecutive Mountain West Conference match after dropping the second and third sets.
"The matches against BYU are always more exciting than usual," Utah head coach Beth Launiere said. "It always is a tough match and I knew it would be tougher because BYU is playing a lot better. I was expecting a tough, competitive match and that's exactly what we got tonight."
Bartkowiak contributed 13 kills on 21 swings with three attack errors for a match-high .438 hitting percentage.
Outside hitter Kathryn Haynie totaled double-digits in kills for the third straight match and the 15th time this season. The North Salt Lake City, Utah native also chipped in five digs and one block.
Several Utes turned in solid all-around performances. Lori Baird turned in nine kills, three digs and two blocks. Chelsey Sandberg registered a team-high four blocks and also had eight kills, while Cinthia Silva also posted eight kills to go along with 13 digs. Emillie Toone had eight kills, four digs and three blocks. Abby Simmons set up the Utes up with a conference season-high 27 assists and Stephanie Shardlow finished with 26.
Libero Keisha Fisher patrolled the back row with a match-high 27 digs, her second-best effort of the season.
Launiere now has 13 career 20-win seasons and has achieved the mark during 12 of her last 13 years at the helm of the Utah volleyball program.
Down 2-1 entering the fourth set, the Utes opened by scoring three unanswered points for an 8-5 lead but the Cougars quickly tied the match at 10 points apiece. There were seven more ties before Utah was able to grab a 19-17 lead before inching its advantage to three points, 21-18, en route to a 25-20 win to send the match to a fifth set.
Bartkowiak stepped up with six kills on just seven swings, while Silva had three and a trio of other Utes each notched two kills apiece and the Utes outhit the Cougars .400 to .128 in the set. Fisher added eight digs in the back row.
Utah stormed out to an 8-2 advantage in the fifth and final set and was ahead 10-5 before a Christina Meason kill started a 4-1 Cougar run to narrow the deficit to 11-9. Two kills by Haynie helped Utah close out the match-clinching win by scoring four of the next six points for a 15-11 win. Utah outhit BYU .300 to .174 in the decisive set, with Haynie coming through in the clutch for the Utes with five kills in the fifth set.
In its opening-set victory, Utah scored the first four points of the match and went out to a 9-2 lead. The Utes built their lead to eight points at 17-9 before a 4-1 BYU run made the score 19-13. Utah scored six of the last nine points of the set to claim a 25-16 match-opening victory.
Sandberg and Haynie led the Utes with two kills apiece while Emillie Toone and Bartkowiak came up with a two blocks apiece to help limit BYU to a -.024 hitting percentage, with a .143 hitting percentage in the first set.
The Utes fell behind 6-1 to start the second set but used a 5-1 run to come within a point at 7-6. Utah found itself down 19-15, but took eight of the next 10 points to assume a 23-21 lead. BYU fought back to tie the set at 23 points and a back-and-forth exchange, including six more ties, followed until the set was tied at 29 points apiece. The Cougars took the final two points and a 31-29 second-set win to even the match at 1-1.
Utah was at a 12-8 disadvantage to start the third set, but scored three consecutive points to bring the score to 12-11. The Cougars scored five of the next six points to take a 17-12 edge then extended their lead to eight points at 23-15 before cruising to a 25-16 win.
The Utes outhit the Cougars .169 to .155 for the match, but were outblocked 12-6.5, yet Utah was able to come away with its sixth win in its last eight matches against BYU.
"Even though we got the win, we have to fix some things," Launiere said. "We came through in the clutch and that's what got us the win, but there will be plenty for us to work on in practice next week."
Utah is now an even 2-2 in five-set matches this season and is 3-0 when taking the floor as a nationally-ranked team.
After two wins for the Utah volleyball team, the Deseret First Duel is now tied at six points apiece. The next matchup of the series is the Saturday, Nov. 22 football game, which is scheduled to kick off at 4 p.m., in Salt Lake City.
Utah volleyball begins its MWC season-ending weekend Thursday against Wyoming. First serve from Crimson Court is set for 7 p.m.
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