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Utah Volleyball Sweeps BYU
10/1/2010 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 1, 2010
PROVO - Morgan Odale had a match-high 19 kills and University of Utah volleyball team swept BYU (25-16, 25-21, 25-18) Friday in the first match of the Deseret First Duel at Smith Fieldhouse.
Utah (7-8, 2-1 MWC) has not lost to BYU since Nov. 7, 2007 and has taken 13 of the last 16 matchups against the Cougars since 2003. The Utes outhit the Cougars .362 to .194 and came up with 43 digs compared to 29 for BYU.
"It wasn't an easy win, but it was a reflection of a lot of hard work all week long," Utah head coach Beth Launiere said. ""The No. 1 thing was that every single player on the team had a really good week of practice. We had really good team practices all week long. We kept them short so we had high intensity and good execution. We just got better every day. Wins like this happen when you have weeks of practice like we had."
Odale registered her 19 kills on 42 swings with three errors for a .381 hitting percentage to go along with eight digs and two blocks.
"[Odale] was swinging so high and hard with good range then was mixing up her shots so well that BYU did not have an answer for her," Launiere said. "She was playing with a lot of confidence and we kept getting the ball to her."
Senior Karolina Bartkowiak turned in eight kills followed by seven from Erin Redd, who needed only 12 attempts and committed just one error for a .500 hitting percentage in the match. Redd, a Spanish Fork, Utah native, served a team-high three aces.
"[Redd] had a really nice match, too," Launiere said. "She did a lot of good things for us, not just offensively. She had a couple of key blocks and service aces."
Danielle Killpack had a .571 clip, including four kills on seven swings. Stephanie Neeley distributed 36 assists to go with six digs and a pair of service aces.
In the back row of the Ute defense, Keisha Fisher popped up a team-high 12 digs. Fisher recorded 12 digs in the back row for the Utes and now has 73 double-figure-dig performances in her career and has led or tied for team-high honors in 11 matches this season. Fisher now has 1,335 career digs, which is 236 shy of the school record.
Utah was edged by BYU in the blocks, 8-7, led by four kills from both Bartkowiak and Killpack.
Utah jumped out to an 8-3 advantage to start the match and would extend their lead to seven points, at 20-13, en route to a 25-16 first-set victory. The Utes outhit the Cougars, .481 to .176, in the set while Odale had six kills on seven swings for a.857 hitting percentage to go with four digs and one block. Bartkowiak posted four kills on eight attempts for a .250 clip and Neeley dished out 13 assists and served a pair of aces. In the back row, Fisher popped up six digs.
There were seven ties in the outset of the second set with either team leading by more than three points, but with the set tied at 14 points, BYU went on a 5-0 run to assume a 19-14 advantage.
"We were going to be successful if we could win the serve-pass battle tonight," Launiere said. "We were struggling and made a couple of mistakes and got down a little bit. I called a timeout and told the team that we are prepared, we know what we have to do, there are no surprises so we just have to keep our heads up. And we did that. It was just like this little relapse of under confidence and as soon as we reminded them of their great preparation all week, we went out and executed."
Utah immediately stormed back with an 11-2 run to capture a 25-21 second-set win. Utah managed a .278 to .179 edge in hitting over BYU in the set. Odale tallied six more kills and Neeley passed out 16 more assists.
After the third set was tied at two points apiece, Utah scored three consecutive points to assume a 5-2 advantage. The Utes then pushed their lead to eight points with a 6-0 run to assume a 15-8 lead and would go on to a 25-18 win to clinch the match. Utah outhit BYU .355 to .233 in the set and Odale finished the match strong with seven kills in the third set.
BYU (3-12, 0-3 MWC) received a team-high 10 kills from Christie Carpenter, who took 24 swings and committed four attack errors for a .250 hitting percentage.
This was the first event of the fourth year of the 2010-11 Deseret First Duel so Utah now leads the series, 3-0. The next contest in the rivalry is the Oct. 29 volleyball match at Crimson Court.
"You hope when you get to October your team is playing with some good flow and that's what we did tonight," Launiere said.
The Utes briefly go out of conference play for a road match at San Diego Thursday at 7 p.m. PT. Utah returns to MWC competition Saturday at San Diego State. First serve from Peterson Gym is set for 7 p.m. PT.
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