BYU Defeats Wyoming, Faces Utah Friday

PROVO -- BYU defeated Wyoming in three games, 30-14, 30-16, 30-23, in the Thursday's final match of the opening round of the 2001 Mountain West Conference Championship at the Smith Fieldhouse.

"I was pleased with the way we played tonight," said BYU head coach Elaine Michaelis. "We came out with good pressure on the floor and our tempo was excellent."

BYU dominated the match from first game when at one point, the Cougars were on top 26-8. For the third time this season, BYU held Wyoming to a three-game attack percentage of .100 or less. All-American Nina Puikkonen led the Cougars with 14 kills and a season-high .611 attack percentage.

"We are looking forward to the best part of the season," Puikkonen said. "Now we are ready and willing to play."

Sunny Mahe finished with a near double-double performance, recording nine kills and nine digs. Jackie Bundy provided the Cougars with 12 kills and six blocks in the win.

"We have good team chemistry and a lot of confidence and trust in one another," Bundy said.

Karina Puikkonen had 35 assists while running the Cougar offense. Puikkonen's passes were high and tight, helping the Cougars to 47 kills as a team.

"Serving and passing is the name of the game," Michaelis said. "We did that well which allowed everything else fall into place."

Rachel Lau, Wyoming's lone senior, played in the last volleyball match of her collegiate career. Lau led the Cowgirls with 11 kills against the Cougars. The senior was named to the MWC all-conference team earlier in the week and leaves Wyoming in sixth place all time in aces and ninth place all time in blocks.

BYU faces Utah Friday night at the Smith Fieldhouse, where the Utes havenít won since Sept. 21, 1985. BYU is 30-1 all-time against Utah at home. BYU has split the regular season series against Utah the last two years. The Cougars faced the Utes in the semifinals of last year's MWC tournament, where BYU won 3-1 in Fort Collins, Colo.

"Utah is playing very well and they are a very good team," Michaelis said. "We have been playing great as of late. Tomorrow night should be a great match."

Colorado State plays against UNLV in Fridayís first semifinal match at 4 p.m. BYU and Utah will play in the second semifinal match, 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. The game will be broadcast on KBYU channel 11 and produced by SportsWest Productions.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
        Wyoming Cowgirls vs BYU Cougars (Nov 15, 2001 at BYU PROVO UTAH)
    Wyoming Cowgirls       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  DOMAN, Amy..........  3|  1   1   4  .000| 29|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  1|  2|   1.0
 4  ROSLUND, Jill.......  3|  7   4  13  .231|  1|  0   1|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   7.0
 9  MAYTORENA, Sara.....  3|  3   5  13 -.154|  0|  0   1|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 12 JARMAN, Katie.......  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 14 LATIMER, Vanessa....  2|  2   1   4  .250|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 16 LAU, Rachel.........  3| 11   6  25  .200|  0|  0   2|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|  11.0
 2  RAUTER, Michele.....  3|  7   4  20  .150|  1|  0   3|  5|  7| 0  1  1|  0|   7.5
 6  ROBINETT, Melissa...  3|  5   5  20  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 2  1  2|  0|   7.5
 7  PATRICK, Shannon....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 36  26 100  .100| 32|  0   8|  7| 21| 2  2  4|  2|  39.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 3.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   9 11  30 -.067   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10  8  36  .056   Wyoming Cowgirls.... 14 16 23  9-15 4-10 MWC
   3  17  7  34  .294   BYU Cougars......... 30 30 30  19-6 10-4 MWC
    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..  3|  2   1   9  .111|  1|  1   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 5  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  3|  4   0   5  .800| 35|  2   1|  0|  4| 0  2  1|  1|   7.0
 9  PUIKKONEN, Nina.....  3| 14   3  18  .611|  2|  2   1|  0|  5| 1  2  0|  0|  18.0
 10 BUNDY, Jackie.......  3| 12   4  17  .471|  1|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  6  2|  0|  15.0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 15 MAHE, Sunny.........  3|  9   2  18  .389|  1|  2   0|  0|  9| 0  3  0|  0|  12.5
 4  WARNICK, Becky......  1|  1   0   2  .500|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 6  STEELE, Lindsey.....  2|  0   0   4  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  2  0|  0|   1.0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  1|  2   1   4  .250|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  1|  2   0   2 1.000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 11 RICHARDS, Lauren....  1|  1   1   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   1.5
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 47  12  81  .432| 40|  7   4|  0| 35| 1 16  3|  1|  63.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 9.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  4  24  .417   Site: BYU PROVO UTAH (SMITH FIELDHOUSE)
   2  16  4  26  .462   Date: Nov 15, 2001   Attend: 503   Time: 1H 20M
   3  17  4  31  .419   Referees: VERNA KLUBNIKIN, ERIC ASAMI, KAREN MARSHALL