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Volleyball
at Arizona
Saturday, November 14
Salt Lake City, Utah
1:00 PM
University of Utah
3
vs
0
Wyoming
Utah Volleyball Sweeps Wyoming on Senior Day
11/14/2009 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 14, 2009
SALT LAKE CITY - Chelsey Sandberg and Cinthia Silva both had impressive performances on Senior Day to help the University of Utah volleyball team sweep Wyoming (25-17, 25-18, 25-20) in the final regular-season home match of the 2009 regular season Saturday at Crimson Court.
Utah (16-10, 9-5 MWC) hit for a .231 hitting percentage while limiting Wyoming to a .028 mark, the lowest percentage for a Utah opponent this season. The Utes also came up with a season-high 12 blocks for a three-set match this season.
Silva tied teammate Karolina Bartkowiak for match-high honors with nine kills. Silva, a native of San Paulo, Brazil, also added nine digs and two blocks.
Sandberg totaled six kills and six block assists to go with three digs and a pair of service aces. The West Jordan, Utah native also recorded a match-high-tying six blocks.
"I was happy for Chelsey and Cinthia," Utah head coach Beth Launiere said. "They both played really well. It's always good when it matters to seniors. It's a big day for them, knowing that they'll never have this opportunity again. The team played really well. We executed pretty consistently throughout the course of the match and that's what we've been working at doing all season. I feel that in the second half of the Colorado State match [last Thursday] and through this one, we have executed at a pretty high level."
Junior setter Stephanie Neeley had 20 assists to go with eight digs and sophomore Abby Simmons added 12 assists.
Utah recorded a season-high for blocks in a three-set match and was led by sophomore middle blocker Jennifer Lanting, who posted a career-high six blocks. Along with Sandberg and Lanting, sophomore Danielle Killpack turned in six blocks to tie for match-high honors.
"We were just really aggressive at the net and executed well," Launiere said. "Jennifer [Lanting] has been blocking a lot more over the last three weeks. We've been working on it all season long and it's finally starting to pay off."
Junior libero Keisha Fisher tied Silva for team-high honors with nine digs and had her 19 double-figure-dig match streak snapped. The Ririe, Idaho native has turned in double-figure-digs 24 of Utah's 26 matches this season and 58 times in her career.
There were six ties through the first 16 points of the first set before the Utes took the next three points to inch out to an 11-8 lead. Wyoming cut its deficit to a single point, 17-16, but Utah warded off the UW run in impressive fashion by ending the set on an 8-1 run en route to a 25-17 first-set victory. The Utes outhit the Cowgirls, .259 to .028, and also took a 3-1 advantage in team blocks. Killpack led the way for Utah with three kills and three blocks. Utah was 8-2 after taking the first set of a match.
The Utes scored three of the first four points of the second set but the Cowgirls quickly cut their deficit to one point (4-3). Utah was able to take control of the set with an 8-1 run that built is lead to eight points, 12-4. Utah maintained its 10-point lead until the match was at 19-9 before Wyoming cut its deficit to five points with a 6-2 run. Once again, the Utes closed the set strong by scoring five of the last eight points to secure a 25-18 win in the second set. Utah hit only .182 for the set, but managed to limit Wyoming to .000. Bartkowiak led the charge with four kills on seven swings with just one error for a .429 hitting percentage to go with three blocks. Silva added four digs and three kills while Lanting came up with three blocks. Utah entered the match 7-0 when winning the first two sets of the match.
Utah took five of the first six points in the third set and eventually edged out to a nine-point advantage (13-4). The Cowgirls managed to pull within two points at 21-19 thanks to a 7-1 run before a Silva kill snapped the stretch. But a key ace by Neeley helped the Utes go on to a 25-21 victory to clinch the match. Utah hit for a .258 mark and turned in six blocks in the match finale, compared to just a .056 hitting percentage and one block for Wyoming.
Wyoming (12-18, 2-13 MWC) was led by an eight-kill, four-dig, and two-assist performance by Dani Bedore
The Utes begin the final weekend of conference play by traveling to San Diego State for a 6:30 p.m. PT match on Thursday. The MountainWest Sports Network will televise the match live from San Diego.
"We have two more conference matches left," Launiere said. "We have third place [in the Mountain West Conference] in our control if we can go win those matches."
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