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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Volleyball Hosts Three Matches at Crimson Court
10/5/2009 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 5, 2009
Weber State-TCU-New Mexico Match Notes 
The University of Utah volleyball team comes back to Crimson Court this week for a non-conference match against Weber State and a pair Mountain West Conference contests. The Utes take on the Wildcats Tuesday at 7 p.m., then TCU Thursday at 7 p.m. and New Mexico Saturday at 1 p.m.
Utah has won 18 straight MWC matches since suffering consecutive defeats at the start of the 2008 league slate. The Utes enter the match 10-5 overall this season and 4-0 after the first three weeks of MWC action with home wins over Air Force (Sept. 17) and SDSU (Sept. 19) and a road sweep at UNLV last Thursday.
Dan Clayton will have the play-by-play call for every match this week, which can be accessed by clicking the `Watch' link found on the right side of the volleyball schedule page. Live stats for all three matches will be provided by Gametracker and are also available on utahutes.com. Also, please be sure to follow Utah Volleyball on Twitter at http://twitter.com/utahvolleyball and the Utah Volleyball Blog at http://utahvolleyball.blogspot.com.
Last Time Out: The Utes earned their first MWC road win with a 3-0 victory over UNLV last Thursday at Cox Pavilion. The Utes outhit the Rebels .371 to .220 in the match and also gained an 8-4 edge in team blocks over their hosts. Utah's .371 hitting percentage was its second-highest mark of the season and the highest recorded in conference play this season.
Featuring a balanced offensive attack throughout the night, six Utes --- Karolina Bartkowiak (Aurora, Ill.), Chelsey Sandberg (West Jordan, Utah), Danielle Killpack (Idaho Falls, Idaho), Cinthia Silva (San Paulo, Brazil), Sarah Hibbert (Anchorage, Alaska) and Jennifer Lanting (Corcoran, Calif.) --- each hit for at least five kills in the match. Sandberg hit for six kills, while Killpack added five. Hibbert totaled seven kills and Silva registered eight. Lanting logged a career-high .467 hitting percentage with eight kills on 15 swings with only one error. Defensively, Killpack recorded a team-high five blocks to lead the Utes at the net. Bartkowiak and Lanting contributed three blocks apiece. In the back row, junior libero Keisha Fisher (Ririe, Idaho) finished with a match-high 14 digs, her 14th double-figure-dig match in 15 contests this season. Fisher has 47 such performances for her career and has reached double-figures in nine consecutive matches. Fisher now ranks fifth in the MWC with a 3.78 dig-per-set average.
Home Sweet Home: The Utes have won their last 16 MWC home matches with their last loss coming against BYU on Oct. 12, 2007. The Utes are 7-1 overall at Crimson Court this season and 3-0 against MWC opponents. Utah is 20-2 on its home floor since the 2008 season. Its only losses came on Sept. 13, 2008 to Purdue, and this season to then-No. 12 Oregon on Sept. 15.
18 Straight MWC Wins: The Utes will look to tie the school record for consecutive conference wins Thursday against TCU. Utah extended its conference win streak to 18 this season with a sweep at UNLV on Thursday and a trio of home wins over Air Force, San Diego State and BYU to start the 2009 league slate. After dropping its first two MWC matches last season at then-No. 15 Colorado State (Sept. 18) and at Wyoming (Sept. 20), Utah scorched through the rest of its conference slate with 14 straight victories.
The Utes won 19 conference regular-season matches in a row from Nov. 24, 2005 to Nov. 20, 2006, including a perfect 16-0 mark in MWC play in 2006, the only unblemished season in the MWC's 10-year history.
Feeling Streaky: Thursday's win at UNLV gave the Utes their second four-match win streak of the season. Utah now has an opportunity to establish a season-best five-match win streak at Crimson Court Tuesday against in-state rival Weber State.
Weber State Series History: Weber State enters the match 3-13 overall and 2-4 in the Big Sky Conference. The Utes own a 45-19 advantage in the all-time series with the Wildcats. Utah has won six consecutive matches in the series with its last defeat coming on Sept. 17, 2002 in Ogden, Utah. The Utes took a four-set decision last season at WSU, led by Emillie Toone, who had 13 kills in the final three sets.
TCU Series History: TCU is 15-4 overall and 4-1 in the MWC. Utah is 10-2 all-time against the Horned Frogs and has won the last three matches, including a season sweep in 2008.
New Mexico Series History: New Mexico enters the weekend 11-5 overall and 3-2 in the MWC. The all-time series between the Utes and the Lobos stands at 42-27 in favor of Utah. The Utes have taken the last seven meetings and have not lost to the Lobos since Sept. 24, 2005 in Albuquerque, N.M.
Back to Basics: When out-performing their opponents in fundamental areas of the game (hitting, blocking, and serving), the Utes have established an impressive record early this season. Utah is 10-0 when accumulating a higher hitting percentage, 9-0 when outblocking its opponents, and 6-0 when serving more aces than their opponents.
Karolina Carries the Utes: Bartkowiak recorded her second consecutive double-double in the sweep against UNLV. Utah was led throughout the match by Bartkowiak, who recorded a team-high 11 kills with only one error while taking 17 swings to go along with 10 digs and three blocks. She now has five career double-doubles, all coming this season.
Bartkowiak now has nine double-figure-kill matches this season and 23 for her career to go with seven career double-digit-dig performances, all coming in 2009. She is seventh in the MWC's overall statistics with 2.96 kills and stands eighth with 3.51 points per set. In the conference-only statistics, Bartkowiak is second with 3.71 kills per set and is fifth in hitting percentage at a .387 clip through four matches.
Hibbert Heats Up: Hibbert is one of Utah's top attackers through its first 15 matches this season, ranking second on the team and ninth in the MWC with 2.91 kills per set. Hibbert has set a new career high in kills five times this season, most recently connecting for 21 Sept. 8 at Utah State. She has compiled eight double-digit-kill matches while leading or tying for the Ute team lead in kills six times. In a Sept. 25 match against BYU, Hibbert had 14 kills and doubled her previous personal best with eight blocks and also added two digs.
Sizzling C: Cinthia Silva has arguably been Utah's most versatile player this season, ranking third on the team in kills (2.27 k/s) and digs (2.09 d/s) and fifth in blocks (0.67 b/s).
Doubling Up: Bartkowiak, Silva and Abby Simmons (Phoenix, Ariz.) have combined for 10 double-double performances this season. Most recently, Bartkowiak had 11 kills and 10 digs at UNLV last Thursday. All three put together double-doubles Sept. 25 against BYU with Bartkowiak's 22 kills and 17 digs, Silva's 14 kills and 10 digs, and Simmons' 31 assists and 12 digs. Bartkowiak has three career double-doubles (all coming this season) and just missed the fourth of her career with 12 kills and eight digs Sept.19 against San Diego State.
Splitting the Sets: As part of Utah's 6-2 system, junior Stephanie Neeley (Saugus, Calif.) and Simmons have shared opportunities at the setter position for the Utes this season. Simmons ranks eighth in the MWC with a 5.85 assist-per-set average, while Neeley is distributing 5.09 assists per set, which ranks 10th in the league. Neeley is 58 assists short of tying Cheryl Tye (1983-85) for ninth place on the on the school's all-time list.
Making the Most of their Swings: The Utes have been very efficient on the attack so far this season as they lead the league in hitting percentage through their first 15 matches, hitting for a .244 mark, which is .07 ahead of second-place CSU. Sandberg ranks fourth in the MWC with a .356 hitting percentage this season, converting 109 kills on 236 attempts with only 25 errors. Utah ranks third with 12.65 kills per set, led by Bartkowiak's 2.96 kill-per-set mark that ranks seventh in the MWC. Hibbert follows in ninth among the league leaders with 2.91 kills per set.
The Utes Can Dig It: The Ute defense posted 19 digs per set for a season-high mark in three-set matches (57) in their Sept. 19 sweep of San Diego State, which finished well above the 12.41 digs per set they were averaging entering the match.
Killpack on the Block: Killpack came up with a career-high nine blocks to lead Utah at the net Sept. 25 against BYU. This season, Killpack owns a team-high average of 1.18 blocks per set to tie for fourth place in the MWC statistical rankings. She has led the Utes in blocks five times this season.
Chelsey Serves and Blocks: In addition to standing fourth in the MWC in hitting percentage, Sandberg leads the MWC with a 0.44 service ace per set average thanks to a total of 24 aces in 55 sets this season. Sandberg is second on the Ute squad with a 1.09-block-per-set average that is sixth in the league.
Utes in the Polls: Utah was last listed in the AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll on Sept. 7, receiving 75 votes. Utah also received votes in the Sept. 8 Volleyball Magazine poll. Before Tuesday's match at Crimson Court against then-No. 12 Oregon, the Utes' only match against a ranked opponent was against then-No. 25 Arizona on Sept. 11. The Utes earned a 3-2 win over Cincinnati, which received five votes, on Aug. 29 in Salt Lake City before facing Santa Clara, which received four votes in the poll, last Saturday. Utah's highest ranking in the AVCA Poll this season was No. 17.
Launiere Reaches 400 Victories: After an intense 3-2 win Friday over BYU in the first Deseret First Duel match of the season, Utah head coach Beth Launiere earned her 400th career victory. Launiere now owns a 401-217 (.649) mark in her 20th season at Utah, the only school at which she has been head coach. After taking over in 1990, the three-time AVCA West Region and MWC Coach of the Year has 63 percent of the program's all-time victories. Launiere is already among the top 50 all-time winningest coaches in NCAA volleyball history.
Utah Classic All-Tournament Team: As a reward for helping Utah go 3-0 at the season-opening Utah Classic with wins over Arizona State, UC Riverside and Cincinnati, Bartkowiak was named the 2009 Utah Classic MVP while Sandberg and Fisher were named to the all-tournament team.
All-Tournament Team Utes: Sandberg was named to the 2009 La Quinta Inn & Suites All-Tournament Team on Sept. 5 after she averaged 2.55 kills and 1.00 blocks per set in three matches against Utah Valley, Washington State and Missouri. Bartkowiak represented the Utes on the Santa Clara Invitational All-Tournament team with a team-high 3.17 kill-per-set average against then-No. 25 Arizona and Santa Clara.
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.
Filling the Seats: A school-record crowd of 1,747 fans filed into Crimson Court Sept. 25 for Utah's heroic 3-2 win over BYU. In what turned out to be a monumental night, approximately 50 former Ute volleyball players and staff members came together to celebrate the school's 35th anniversary with players from four different eras being introduced between the second and third set. Launiere then capped the night by claiming her 400th career win.
Launiere for President: As of Jan. 1, 2009, Launiere has served as President of the AVCA. Launiere's impact on the sport goes well beyond the court. Since 2004 she has guided volleyball on the national stage as a member of the AVCA Board of Directors.
Players Mentioned
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