Upcoming Event: Volleyball at Arizona on October 2, 2025 at 7:00 PM
7:00 PM
Volleyball
at Arizona
Saturday, September 19
Salt Lake City, Utah
1:00 PM
University of Utah
3
vs
0
San Diego State
Utah Volleyball Sweeps San Diego State, 3-0
9/19/2009 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 19, 2009
SALT LAKE CITY - Junior opposite hitter Karolina Bartkowiak finished two digs shy of her fourth career double-double as the University of Utah volleyball team swept San Diego State, 3-0 (28-26, 25-19, 25-15), for its 16th consecutive Mountain West Conference victory Saturday at Crimson Court.
Utah head coach Beth Launiere is now one win short of 400 for her career and currently boasts a 399-217 (.648) record in her 20th season with the Utes. Utah's last conference loss came at Wyoming on Sept. 18, 2008.
"Obviously, I'm happy that we won," Launiere said. "But I'm most happy about how we won. That was our most complete match this year. It was our best serving match and not only did [Bartkowiak] have a great performance but so many other people played their roles. Cinthia [Silva] played well defensively. It was a complete effort and we're starting to come together as a team."
Utah (8-5, 2-0 MWC) was paced by an impressive all-around performance by Bartkowiak, who hit a match-high 12 kills, came up with eight digs and set a new season-high mark with six blocks.
As a team, the Utes outhit the Aztecs .233 to .140, marking the fifth time this season Utah has limited its opponents to a hitting percentage below .150. The Utes are now 5-0 in those matches. The Utes also served a season-high-tying eight aces.
Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Hibbert registered her seventh double-figure-kill performance of the season with 10 kills on 23 swings with just a pair of miscues for a .348 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Abby Simmons set up 22 Ute kills, while junior Stephanie Neeley distributed 16 assists for the Utah attack.
Defensively, the Utes posted 19 digs per set for a season-high mark in three-set matches (57), which finished well above the 12.41 digs per set they were averaging entering the match. Junior libero Keisha Fisher patrolled the back row of the Ute defense with 17 digs, including 10 in the first set alone. Silva came up with a career high 13 digs as part of a solid all-around performance as she added five kills, a career-high two service aces as well as one block. From the setter position, Neeley had seven digs while Simmons added five.
In addition to Bartkowiak's team-high six blocks, Danielle Killpack registered a five-block performance at the net for the Utes. Killpack tied her career high with six kills on 13 swings and one error for a .385 mark. Senior Chelsey Sandberg had four blocks and also hit for seven kills in addition to two service aces, which tied Silva for team-high honors.
The Utes fell behind 3-2 at the start of the first set, but battled back with a 10-2 run that included three kills from both Bartkowiak and Sandberg to take a 12-5 lead. Unfortunately, SDSU scored six unanswered points to climb back into the set. The Utes managed to extend their lead back to three points at 20-17. The Aztecs tied the set at 24 points apiece. The set would be tied two more times before Utah was able to take a 28-26 victory. A defensive struggle ensued in the first set with Utah outhitting San Diego State, .149 to .129. Bartkowiak pounded down a team-high seven kills and need just nine swings while not committing an error for a .778 hitting percentage. Fisher came up with 10 digs for the Utes and Killpack and Bartkowiak both posted two blocks apiece.
The Aztecs stormed out to a 4-2 lead but the Utes took five of the next six points to assume a 7-5 advantage. The Utes would hang onto their two-point spread at 20-18 before closing the set on a 6-1 run en route to a 25-19 win. Bartkowiak had four more kills on seven swings to go with three blocks. Killpack registered three kills and Sandberg came up with three of her four blocks in the set to help the Utes gain a 5-2 advantage in blocks during the set.
Utah raced out to a 10-1 lead to start the third set thanks to a 9-0 run that was highlighted by three kills from Hibbert. The Aztecs would get no closer than five points the rest of the way as the Utes eased their way to a 25-15 match-clinching victory. Hibbert needed only seven swings to ring up seven kills in the set (a .857 hitting percentage) and Silva took only six attempts to come up with her four kills (a .667 hitting percentage) as Utah outhit SDSU in the set, .375 to .143.
San Diego State (4-6, 0-2 MWC) was led on the attack and the block by Andrea Hannasch, who posted a team-high 10 kills and a team-high five blocks to go along with three digs. Setter Lauren Van Orden had a match-high 33 assists and Kristi Jackels took match-high honors with 20 digs.
The Utes host the first Deseret Duel match against BYU Friday at 7 p.m. Former players and coaches will be introduced and a post-match reception will be held as part of Utah's 35th Anniversary Reunion.
CBS College Sports will air a tape-delayed broadcast of the San Diego State match Tuesday, Sept. 22 at 5 p.m. MT.
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Volleyball
L/S
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballUtah Volleyball's Emrie Moea'i - ESPN+ Feature
Thursday, September 25
Hear It From Harlan featuring Utah Volleyball's Kamryn Gibadlo
Thursday, September 25
Crimson Corner with Bill Riley - Tony Caridi, voice of the West Virginia Mountaineers
Tuesday, September 23
Crimson Corner with Bill Riley - Urban Meyer
Wednesday, September 17