Cougars Bounced by Utes in Tourney

SAN -- The Mountain West Conference Tournament came to a sudden end for the BYU women's volleyball team, as it lost to Utah in a semifinal match-up 3-0 (30-22, 30-23, 30-24) Friday at Peterson Gym. The loss drops the Cougars to 21-8, while the Utes improve to 20-7.

"I didn't think we attacked the way we can," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "For some reason, we were really tentative."

Utah jumped out to an early lead in the first game, scoring the first three points on two kills from Kim Turner and one from Kelsie Kartchner. BYU scored consecutive points for the first time on a Carrie Bowers kill followed by a Kartchner attack error that made it 11-7 Utah. The Cougars would close to within two at 12-10, but Utah used a 4-0 run to take a commanding lead at 19-12. From there neither team could mount or sustain a meaningful run. Turner had seven kills to lead all players in the first game.

The Cougars got out to a quick lead in the second game on a kill by Kim Wilson and a Lindsey Metcalf block on Danielle Leichliter, but the Utes would proceed to score the next four points, led by a pair of Turner kills. BYU would tie the game on several occasions, but Utah managed to hold a slim lead throughout, before going on a handful of mini-runs to widen its lead. The game would end on a couple of Shelly Sommerfeldt kills sandwiched by a Turner ace.

BYU opened the third game with an ace from Lauren Richards and a kill from Lindsy Hartsock. Utah would fight back, however, and the game would stay close in the early going. The Utes carried play down the stretch as Sommerfeldt and Turner carried the team to the win.

"I thought we came ready to play," Lamb said. "It was a tough match and we competed well. Utah did a nice job serving that got us into some trouble passing."

The Cougars were led by Wilson's eight kills and Hartsock led the team with a .500 attack percentage to go with a match-high four blocks. Sophomore setter Lauren Richards collected two aces to give her 10 in two matches.

Utah was led by Sommerfeldt, who put down 18 kills. Turner chipped in with 16 kills.

BYU was held to a season-low 25 kills and the Cougars were held without a player in double-digit kills for the first time this season.

"We don't have time to be sorry for ourselves," Lamb said. "Now we need to regain our focus to play Utah State on Tuesday."

The Cougars will take on instate rival Utah State Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. The match is slated to start one hour earlier than usual and will be broadcast live on KBYU and BYUTV.

                              Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
            BYU Cougars vs Utah (Nov 21, 2003 at San Diego, Calif.)
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  TOGO, Melanie.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  1   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 5  RICHARDS, Lauren....  3|  0   5   7 -.714| 18|  2   5|  0|  9| 1  1  0|  2
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3|  6   0  22  .273|  1|  0   0|  4|  8| 0  3  0|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  3|  2   2  12  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  2  0|  0
 9  BROWN, Lexi.........  2|  0   0   3  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy....  3|  6   1  10  .500|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 1  3  0|  0
 7  WILSON, Kim.........  3|  8   5  23  .130|  0|  0   0|  2|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 11 KEARL, Lindsey......  3|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  1   1|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 15 CASTILLO, Sahara....  1|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 18 NIELSEN, Laura......  1|  1   2   3 -.333|  0|  1   0|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  0|   |        |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 25  15  82  .122| 20|  6   8|  9| 33| 2 12  0|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   8  3  21  .238   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10  7  30  .100   BYU Cougars......... 22 23 24  21-8
   3   7  5  31  .065   Utah................ 30 30 30  20-7
    Utah                   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  SOMMERFELDT, Shelly.  3| 18   2  26  .615|  0|  2   4|  1|  5| 0  1  0|  0
 6  KARTCHNER, Kelsie...  3|  3   3   9  .000| 28|  2   5|  0|  6| 0  1  0|  0
 8  NEUMEIER, Tracy.....  3|  0   0   0  .000| 26|  1   0|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0
 9  LEICHLITER, Danielle  3|  9   6  29  .103|  0|  1   1|  2|  5| 0  1  0|  0
 15 TURNER, Kim.........  3| 16   5  39  .282|  0|  3   1|  1|  4| 1  2  0|  0
 16 HENDERSON, Lyndsey..  3|  7   7  19  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0
 2  MORRILL, Jackie.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 3  TOONE, Amie.........  3|  3   0   4  .750|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
 14 DANGERFIELD, Connie.  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   1|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 17 HORNER, Taryn.......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 56  24 127  .252| 54|  9  12|  6| 35| 1 10  0|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  22  8  38  .368   Site: San Diego, Calif. (Peterson Gym)
   2  16  8  42  .190   Date: Nov 21, 2003   Attend:     Time: 1:40
   3  18  8  47  .213   Referees: Verna Klubnikin, Patsy Malta

SAN -- For the fourth consecutive year, the BYU women's volleyball team will face Utah in the Mountain West Conference Championship - this time in the semifinal.

The Cougars are 61-14 all time against the Utes, but are 1-2 in the MWC Championship - BYU's only losing record to any team.

The BYU vs. Utah match will be televised live on BYUTV at 4 p.m. (PST), 5 p.m. (MST). The match will also be shown live on KULC (Channel 9) in the Salt Lake City market. There will be a tape-delay broadcast of the match at 11 p.m. (MST) on KBYU-TV.

The match will also be shown live via the Internet through a video/audio stream provided by BYUTV. Live Stats are also available. To access the online stream as well as the Live Stats, click on the women's volleyball 2003 schedule link and scroll down to the BYU vs. Utah match.

BYU has advanced to the final of the tournament in three of the first four years of the MWC.