Utah Volleyball Claims Sweep Of Utah State

Friday, September 12

Salt Lake City, Utah

7:00 PM

University of Utah

Utah State

9/12/2008 12:00 AM | Volleyball

Sept. 12, 2008

Box Score

SALT LAKE CITY - Junior outside hitter Cinthia Silva turned in her second double-double performance of the season as the University of Utah volleyball team (6-1) swept its fourth match of the year with a 3-0 win (25-21, 25-16, 25-23) over Utah State in the second contest of the Utah Classic at Crimson Court Friday.

After falling behind 23-20 in the midst of a 3-0 Utah State run in the third set, Utah head coach Beth Launiere called a timeout late in the third set. A pair of USU errors along with kills from Lori Baird, Emillie Toone followed and a fitting closing point from Silva made up the Utes' 5-0 match-clinching stretch, en route to a 25-23 win.

In the early-going of the third set, the two teams traded the first 10 points, but the Aggies scored five of the next seven points to take an 11-7 lead. The Utes battled back to tie the score at 15, thanks to a 4-0 run that caused at Utah State timeout. After tying the set at three other points, the Aggies scored the next three points to assume a commanding 23-20 lead.

"We just got re-focused," Launiere said. "It was similar to a drill we do in practice, where we need to come back at the end of a set. Fortunately, it paid off and we made plays at the end."

Silva came up with a match-high-tying 10 kills to go along with 13 digs, which fell just one shy of tying her season high. Silva's other double-double of the season was an 11-dig, 10-kill performance in Utah's previous home game against Santa Clara.

"It was good to see Cinthia play well," Launiere said. "She had a really good week of practice so I'm not surprised that she came out with that kind of performance"

Kathryn Haynie registered double-digit kills for the fourth straight match with 10 kills to go along with four blocks and three digs. Toone came up with a .571 hitting percentage with nine kills on 16 swings with two errors. Chelsea Sandberg totaled four kills on only seven attempts for an identical .571 hitting percentage.

Setter Stephanie Shardlow registered a match-high 31 assists and also had eight digs.

In set one, Silva had four kills to fuel three different 3-0 Utah runs to take an 11-5 lead early in the first set. The Aggies answered by scoring four points to tie the set at 17 and the two sides played evenly until Utah was able to take a 20-19 advantage and then scored five of the next seven points for a 25-21 first-set victory.

Silva led the Utes with five kills, while Baird, Karolina Bartkowiak and Haynie had three apiece. Silva was also able to dig out seven Utah State kills attempts in the first set, as well.

Baird served back-to-back aces to spur Utah to a 9-5 lead at the beginning of the second set. The Utes racked up five service aces, compared to two for the Aggies in the set. Utah was led individually by two aces from Haynie and one each from Toone, Silva and Keisha Fisher. Utah built its lead to as many as six points at five different junctures late in the set, and Toone clinched the set with an authoritative kill.

Defensively, the Utes held the Aggies to a .160 hitting mark and moved 6-0 this season when holding their opponents to a hitting percentage below .200. Utah was actually outblocked for the third time this season, 12-8, but Toone led the way for Utah with five blocks along the front line.

The Utes moved to 4-0 after winning the first two sets and are also 3-1 in three-set matches this season. This was also Utah's 97th win at Crimson Court since 2000.

Utah State (0-8) was led by nine kills from Melissa Osterloh, while Rebecca Anderson had a match-high six blocks.

Utah takes on Saint Louis tomorrow at 10 a.m., to begin the final day of the Utah Classic at Crimson Court. The Utes will round out the tournament against No. 15 Purdue, who defeated Saint Louis today, at 7 p.m.