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Volleyball
at Arizona
Thursday, October 8
Salt Lake City, Utah
7:00 PM
University of Utah
3
vs
1
TCU
Utah Volleyball Tops TCU in Four Sets
10/8/2009 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 8, 2009
SALT LAKE CITY - Five different Utes reached double-figures in kills and five more hit double-digits in digs as the University of Utah volleyball team tied the school record with its 19th consecutive Mountain West Conference victory in a 3-1 decision (30-32, 27-25, 27-25, 25-18) over TCU Thursday at Crimson Court.
Utah (12-5, 5-0 MWC) is now 21-2 at Crimson Court since 2008. The Utes had 97 digs in four sets, a mark that is just three shy of the school record in four-set matches.
"The good news is that we know we can battle and find ways to win," Utah head coach Beth Launiere said. "Our challenge is just to figure out how to be a little more consistent throughout the course of a match. It was huge defensive match for both teams. Fortunately, we were able to out-dig them 97 to 84 and different people kept coming up big for us tonight on offense."
The Utes outhit the Horned Frogs .198 to .134 in the match and earned a 9-8 advantage in blocking. Three Utes, Karolina Bartkowiak, Cinthia Silva and Stephanie Neeley, had double-double performances.
Bartkowiak turned in 14 kills and a career-high 23 digs for her sixth double-double of the season and of her career. Bartkowiak has now reached double figures in kills in Utah's last five matches. Senior middle blocker Chelsey Sandberg tied Bartkowiak for match-high honors by tallying 14 kills to go along with two blocks, two digs and a service ace. Silva registered her eighth career double-double and fourth this season with 17 digs and 12 kills.
Sophomore middle blocker Danielle Killpack connected for a career-high 10 kills, her first career double-digit output for kills in her career. She also accumulated a match-high .716 hitting percentage, the highest mark of her career, after not committing an error on 14 attempts. The Idaho Falls, Idaho native also posted a team-high five blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Hibbert hit double-digit kills for the ninth time this season with 10 kills to go along with four digs.
The Ute setter virtually split the opportunities throughout the match. Neeley dished out a season-high 28 assists and Abby Simmons distributed 25 helpers. Neeley, a Saugus, Calif., native, also turned in a season-high 12 digs for her first double-double performance of the season and the 12th of her career. Neeley also served a team-high two service aces.
From the back row, libero Keisha Fisher came up with a season-high 27 digs to lead Utah's tough defense. The Ririe, Idaho native set the tone early with 10 digs in the first set alone and also had nine more digs in the fourth set.
The Utes fell behind 5-2 to start the first set but responded with a 4-1 run to tie the set for the first time and was able to take its first lead at 8-7. Utah's advantage never grew to more than two points and there were six more ties until TCU managed a three-point lead at 21-18. The Utes rallied furiously to tie the set six more times but could not avoid a 32-30 loss in the opening set. A defensive struggle ensued in the first set with neither team able to hit above .100. Utah held a .096-.057 edge in hitting and a 4-2 advantage in blocks but could not pull out the victory. Bartkowiak hit a team-high five kills on 10 swings in the set and Silva contributed four while Killpack provided three blocks at the net for the Ute defense. In the back row, Fisher clinched her 10th straight double-figure-dig match and the 49th of her career, with 10 digs in the first set alone.
The even play continued into the second set as there were four ties before the Utes jumped out to a 12-8 advantage thanks to a 4-0 run, but the Horned Frogs turned in a 4-1 spurt to pull within a point. Utah led by no more than three points until the set was tied for the fifth time at 22-22. The teams traded points until a sixth tie occurred at 25 points apiece and consecutive kills by Hibbert and Sandberg clinched the set for the Utes, 27-25. Sandberg and Hibbert registered five kills apiece but the Utes were outhit .289 to .227 in the set but still managed to even the match at one win apiece.
Utah paired together a pair of 3-0 runs to jump out to a 6-2 edge at the beginning of the third set. The Utes maintained their four-point margin until the 9-5 point where the Horned Frogs went on a 5-1 spurt to take its first lead of the set, 12-11. TCU built its lead to as many as four points, at 20-16, but Utah pushed back with an 8-4 charge to force the third tie of the set. From there, the Utes completed their comeback by taking three of the final four points of the set to seize a 2-1 lead in the set with a 27-25 victory.
The Utes obtained their largest lead at 17-12 through the middle part of the fourth set before taking control with a 4-0 run that gave it a 21-15 lead en route to the 25-18 match-clinching victory. Sandberg dominated with six kills on only seven swings and Fisher had nine digs as the Utes outhit the Horned Frogs, .300 to .068, in the finale.
"TCU is a good team," Launiere said. "It was nice to finally break away in the fourth set but they just kept battling."'
TCU (15-5, 4-2 MWC) was led by a match-high-tying 14 kills from Christy Hudson, who also tied Killpack for match-high honors with five blocks.
The Utes close their three-match homestand Saturday at 1 p.m. against MWC foe New Mexico at 1 p.m.
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