Puikkonen Has Career Night in Win over Cal Poly

LONG BEACH -- As a three-time All-American, Nina Puikkonen has had many impressive performances but none better than Friday in BYU's 3-2 win over Cal Poly at the Long Beach Invitational.

Recording her fourth career triple-double, Puikkonen carried BYU to the win, setting career highs with 32 kills and 20 digs and totaling a season-high 11 blocks. She hit .518 for the match as BYU earned the 28-30, 30-20, 25-30, 30-25, 15-7 victory. Puikkonen, who recorded more than 30 kills for the first time in her storied career, made only three errors the entire night while getting 56 swings.

"Nina put us on her shoulders and carried us," BYU coach Elaine Michaelis said. "She was phenomenal all the way around."

With the win, BYU improved to 20-7 on the year and earned its 28th consecutive 20-win season under Elaine Michaelis. Cal Poly fell to 15-11.

The Cougars hit .229 as a team while totaling a season-high 87 kills compared to Cal Poly's 60 kills and .172 attack percentage. BYU was out blocked as Cal Poly totaled 17 team blocks to the Cougars' 12, but the BYU defense was all over the court recording a season-high 102 digs, 32 more than Cal Poly's 70.

"We played good defense," Michaelis said. "Cal Poly is a good, scrappy team. Jackie (Bundy) was sick so she wasn't able to do what she normally does, but she played well on the back row. Sunny (Mahe) played a solid match."

Puikkonen and fellow senior middle blocker Jackie Bundy shared match-high honors in digs with 20 apiece while junior rightside hitter Sunny Mahe had 19. Six Cougars recorded double-digit digs, with Uila Crabbe contributing 13 and Karina Puikkonen and Natalie Whittaker adding 11 each.

Mahe had a double-double with 16 kills along with her 19 digs, while freshman outside hitter Lauren Richards added 11 kills for BYU. Karina Puikkonen tossed up 66 assists, her second-highest total of the season.

Jessica Diepersloot led Cal Poly with 17 kills. Worthy Lien and Anya Douglas added 11 kills apiece. Lien had a team-high 10 blocks for Cal Poly.

The Cougars will face the nation's No. 1 team in tournament host Long Beach State Saturday in the BYU's final regular season match. The Cougars then hope to gain an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament. The NCAA tournament bracket will be announced Monday.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
          BYU Cougars vs Cal Poly (Nov 23, 2001 at Long Beach, 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|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  WHITTAKER, Natalie..  5|  9   4  22  .227|  2|  2   2|  0| 11| 0  6  0|  0|  14.0
 5  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  5|  6   1  11  .455| 66|  0   0|  0| 11| 0  5  2|  4|   8.5
 9  PUIKKONEN, Nina.....  5| 32   3  56  .518|  1|  1   2|  1| 20| 0 11  0|  0|  38.5
 10 BUNDY, Jackie.......  5|  9  14  37 -.135|  3|  0   0|  0| 20| 0  0  1|  0|   9.0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  5|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   1|  0| 13| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 15 MAHE, Sunny.........  5| 16   4  45  .267|  3|  0   1|  1| 19| 1  0  0|  0|  17.0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  2|  4   4  17  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   4.0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 RICHARDS, Lauren....  4| 11   6  23  .217|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|  11.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 87  38 214  .229| 75|  3   6|  2|102| 1 22  3|  4| 102.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  7  49  .245   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18  6  44  .273   BYU Cougars......... 28 30 25 30 15  20-7
   3  16 11  44  .114   Cal Poly............ 30 20 30 25  7  15-11
   4  21 10  54  .204
   5  13  4  23  .391
    Cal Poly               |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  BENESH, Errin.......  5|  7   2  27  .185|  3|  1   3|  0| 11| 1  3  0|  0|  10.5
 6  O'HALLORAN, Carly...  5|  4   0  14  .286| 41|  0   1|  0| 15| 1  3  1|  3|   6.5
 8  DOUGLAS, Anya.......  5| 11   7  31  .129|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 2  2  0|  0|  14.0
 9  DIEPERSLOOT, Jessica  5| 17   6  49  .224|  0|  0   0|  1|  5| 1  4  0|  0|  20.0
 10 DUNCAN, Molly.......  5|  9   3  49  .122|  3|  1   1|  0| 14| 0  0  0|  0|  10.0
 13 HUBBARD, Gwen.......  5|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  0   2|  2|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 1  SIGEL, Kristen......  5|  1   0   1 1.000|  1|  0   0|  0| 15| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 2  LIEN, Worthy........  5| 11   7  31  .129|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 2  8  0|  0|  17.0
 4  O'HALLORAN, Kristen.  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 7  LOWRY, Sarah........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 60  25 204  .172| 50|  2   8|  3| 70| 7 20  1|  3|  79.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 17.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  4  49  .306   Site: Long Beach, Calif. (The Pyramid)
   2  10  9  41  .024   Date: Nov 23, 2001   Attend: 1780   Time: 2:10
   3  15  6  46  .196   Referees: Kim Pickering, Mike Breza
   4  13  4  44  .205   -Nina Puikkonen set career highs with 32 kills and
   5   3  2  24  .042    20 digs, and had her third career triple-double
                         with a season-high 11 blocks.
                        -BYU has now achieved 28 straight 20-win seasons.