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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Volleyball Heads South for Deseret First Duel
10/19/2009 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 19, 2009
Deseret First Duel Match Notes 
The University of Utah volleyball team travels to Provo, Utah for the second Deseret First Duel match of the season Friday against BYU. First serve from Smith Field House is set for 7 p.m. BYU-TV will provide a live telecast of Friday's match. Live stats for the match will be provided by Gametracker on the women's volleyball schedule page at byucougars.com.
Utah has won seven of its last nine matches and is 13-7 overall. The Utes stand in a second-place tie in the MWC with a 6-2 conference record. BYU enters the match 10-9 overall and has lost two of its last three matches. The Cougars are in fourth place with a 5-3 record in MWC play. The Utes are 20-2 in their last 22 MWC matches. Last week, Utah picked up a 3-2 win at Wyoming on Thursday before losing a 3-0 match at Colorado State on Saturday. Utah is 20-4 in league action since 2008.
Follow Utah Volleyball on Twitter at http://twitter.com/utahvolleyball and please watch highlights from the Utes' historic five-set victory Sept. 25 over BYU at Crimson Court on the Utah Volleyball Blog at http://utahvolleyball.blogspot.com.
Last Time Out: The Utes dropped a three-set match (14-25, 13-25, 15-25) Saturday against Colorado State at Moby Arena. Utah was outhit .382 to .078 for the match and were at a 70-40 disadvantage in digs. Utah recovered from a 24-22 fourth-set deficit to earn a 3-2 win (21-25, 25-20, 24-26, 27-25, 15-13) against Wyoming Thursday at the UniWyo Sports Complex. Utah roared back with a 5-2 run to claim a 27-25 lead to even the match at two sets apiece. The Utes gained a 5-1 edge to start the pivotal fifth set and held on for a 15-13 match-clinching victory.
Deseret First Duel: Friday night's matchup between Utah and BYU will mark the third overall contest, second in women's volleyball, of the 2009-10 Deseret First Duel rivalry series. The Utes currently trail the Cougars through the first two events, 6-3. Utah took the first volleyball match on Sept. 25 to earn three points before BYU won the women's soccer game on Oct. 3. The rivalry series includes competition in the 12 sports the two universities compete in head-to-head during regular-season play. The Deseret First Duel will use a system that awards points to the winner of each head-to-head competition. A team trophy will be awarded to the individual winner of each sport. Points won by the individual sports will count toward each school's overall total. A granite traveling trophy will be awarded to the overall series champion each year. Fans can follow the series at http://utahutes.cstv.com/ot/duel-home.html.
Deseret First Duel Series History: Utah trails 56-24 in the all-time series with BYU, but the Utes have taken 11 of the last 14 Deseret First Duel meetings. In the last meeting on Sept. 25, Utah won a five-set match over BYU (19-25, 25-19, 27-29, 31-29, 15-10) which gave Ute head coach Beth Launiere her 400th career win in front of a school-record 1,747 fans at Crimson Court. Utah held a slight .114 to .110 edge in hitting over the course of the match. Three different Utes turned in double-digit-kill performances while four others also had double-digit-dig nights.
Laying the Foundation: When focusing on the fundamentals of the game and out-performing their opponents in key areas of the game (hitting, blocking, and serving), the Utes have established an impressive record this season. Utah is 12-0 when accumulating a higher hitting percentage, 12-0 when outblocking its opponents, and 6-0 when serving more aces than their opponents.
`Barto' Brings It: Three-time MWC Player of the Week Karolina Bartkowiak (Aurora, Ill.) was Utah's most versatile player in road matches at Wyoming and Colorado State. She posted a team-high two service aces and was second on the team with 2.25 kills, 2.25 digs, and 1.12 blocks per set for the Utes in a pair of Utah's MWC matches last week. Thursday at Wyoming, Bartkowiak notched her seventh double-double of the season with 15 digs and 14 kills in a thrilling five-set comeback win over the Cowgirls. She now has hit double-figures in kills 13 times in 2009 and 27 times during her career. Bartkowiak led the comeback, needing only four swings to connect on three kills. She also helped the Ute defense limit the Cowgirls to a -.143 hitting percentage in the deciding frame.
This season, Bartkowiak ranks seventh in the MWC and leads the team with 2.95 kills per set. Bartkowiak is second on the Ute roster with 2.47 digs per set and third with a .285 hitting percentage and 0.81 blocks per set. She also ranks ninth in conference play with 2.93 digs per set in matches against MWC foes. Last time against BYU, Bartkowiak slammed down a career-high 22 kills to go along with 17 digs. The Utah attack was led by Bartkowiak, who came up with 22 kills on 39 swings with nine errors for a match-high-tying .333 hitting percentage. Bartkowiak also turned in a career-high of 17 digs.
Dani on the Block: Danielle Killpack (Idaho Falls, Idaho) has led the Utes in blocks seven times this season and owns a team-high average of 1.22 blocks per set to rank third in the MWC statistical rankings. Killpack recently came up with a career-high 11 blocks at Wyoming on Oct. 15. She also chipped in five blocks in an Oct. 6 win over Weber State after coming up with what was then a career-high nine blocks to lead Utah against BYU on Sept. 25. On the attack, Killpack connected for a career-high 10 kills for her first career double-digit output of her career Oct. 8 against TCU. She also accumulated a match-high .716 hitting percentage, the highest mark of her career, by not committing an error on 14 attempts to go with a team-high five blocks.
Seeing Double: Bartkowiak, Cinthia Silva (San Paulo, Brazil), Stephanie Neeley (Saugus, Calif.), and Abby Simmons (Phoenix, Ariz.) have combined for 16 double-double performances this season. Those four have now combined for 32 career double-double performances. Last week, Bartkowiak had a double-double with 15 digs and 14 kills at Wyoming and Simmons came up with 12 digs and distributed 11 assists Saturday Oct. 10 at Colorado State. Simmons has turned in three double-doubles this season and has four for her career.
Last time against BYU, three Utes had double-doubles. In addition to Bartkowiak's 22 kills and 17 digs, Silva turned in a double-double with a then-career-high 14 kills and 10 digs to go along with another personal best of six blocks. Simmons tallied Utah's third double-double of the night with a team-high 31 assists that was paired with a career-high-tying 12 digs. Neeley distributed a season-high 27 assists to go along with seven digs for the Utes.
Bartkowiak has seven career double-doubles, all coming this season. Silva has nine career double-doubles, five this season. Neeley most recently dished out a season-high 28 assists and also turned in a season-high 12 digs for her first double-double performance of the season and the 12th of her career on Oct. 10 against New Mexico. Sarah Hibbert (Anchorage, Alaska) has 10 double-digit-kill performance this season, including the last match against BYU with 14 kills to go along with eight digs.
Sandberg Takes Her Swings: Senior Chelsey Sandberg (West Jordan, Utah) hit a career-high with 14 kills in consecutive matches against Weber State and TCU. Sandberg initially set her career high for kills as she helped Utah stage a fourth-set comeback in its 3-1 win over Weber State on Oct. 6, its seventh consecutive win in the series. Sandberg then tied Bartkowiak for match-high honors Oct. 8 against TCU by tying her career high with 14 kills. Sandberg is now third in the MWC with 0.36 aces per set thanks to a total of 27 aces in 75 sets this season and also stands eighth in the league with a .305 hitting percentage, Sandberg is second on the Ute squad with a 0.95-block-per-set average.
Splitting the Sets: As part of Utah's 6-2 system, Neeley and Simmons have shared opportunities at the setter position for the Utes this season. Simmons ranks ninth in the MWC with a 5.72 assist-per-set average, while Neeley is distributing 5.13 assists per set, which ranks 10th in the league. Neeley now has 1,655 career assists and is 43 assists behind Cheryl Tye (1983-85) for ninth place on Utah's all-time career list.
Making the Most of their Chances: The Utes have been efficient on the attack this season, ranking third in the league in hitting percentage with a .224 mark just .24 percentage points behind first-place CSU. Sandberg ranks eighth in the MWC with a .305 hitting percentage this season, converting 158 kills on 364 attempts with only 47 errors. Utah ranks fifth in the conference with 12.65 kills per set, led by Bartkowiak's 2.95 kill-per-set mark that ranks seventh in the MWC. Hibbert follows in ninth among the league leaders with 2.68 kills per set.
Digging In on Defense: In an Oct. 6 contest against TCU, the Utes had 97 digs in four sets, a mark that is just three shy of the school record in four-set matches. Earlier this season, the Ute defense posted 76 digs in a five-set match against BYU on Sept. 25, which stands as Utah's current season-high for five sets. Utah came up with a season-high 57 digs in a three-set victory over San Diego State on Sept. 19, which finished well above the 12.41 digs per set they averaged entering the match.
Fishing for Digs: Keisha Fisher (Ririe, Idaho) came up with a season-high 27 digs Oct. 8 against TCU, the highest four-set total in the MWC this season. The junior libero set the tone early with 10 digs in the first set and added nine more digs in the fourth set. Fisher ranks fifth in the MWC with 3.89 digs per set.
`C' For Versatility: Silva has put together double-doubles in two of the last four matches and is third on the team in kills (2.33 k/s) and digs (2.16 d/s) and ranks fifth in blocks (0.65 b/s). Silva led Utah in kills for the second straight match and third time this season, with 16 Thursday at Wyoming. She turned in a team-high 12 digs Oct. 10 against New Mexico to become only the second Ute other than Fisher to lead the team in digs in 2009.
Utes in the Polls: Utah's highest ranking in the AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll this season was No. 17 on Aug. 18. Utah was last listed in the poll on Sept. 7, receiving 75 votes and also received votes in the Sept. 8 Volleyball Magazine poll. The Utes are 0-2 against ranked teams this season, suffering losses to then-No. 12 Oregon at Crimson Court on Sept. 15 and to then-No. 25 Arizona on Sept. 11 in Santa Clara, Calif.
Launiere Reaches 400 Victories: An intense 3-2 win Sept. 25 over BYU in the first Deseret First Duel match of the season gave Launiere her 400th career victory. Launiere currently owns a 404-219 (.648) mark in her 20th season at Utah, the only school at which she has been head coach. The three-time AVCA West Region and MWC Coach of the Year has 64 percent of Utah's all-time victories.
Utes Picked to Win MWC: Utah was selected to repeat as MWC champions in the 2009 Preseason Coaches Poll. In addition, Bartkowiak was named to the Preseason All-MWC Team.
Launiere for President: Launiere has served as President of the AVCA since Jan. 1. Since 2004, she has guided volleyball on the national stage as a member of the AVCA Board of Directors.
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