Brett Pyne | Posted: 26 Oct 2001 | Updated: 26 Oct 2001

Puikkonen, Cougars Too Much for Falcons

COLORADO SPRINGS -- BYU improved to 14-4 overall and 7-2 in Mountain West Conference play with a three-game sweep over Air Force Friday at Cadet East Gym.

The 16th-ranked Cougars dominated the Falcons in their 30-19, 30-18, 30-23 victory. BYU coach Elaine Michaelis played all twelve players during the match but no one was more dominating than BYU All-American Nina Puikkonen, who hit a season-high .609 attack percentage with 17 kills in 23 attempts. She also totaled 10 blocks to tie her season high and in the process move into fourth place on BYU's career block solos list.

"They just didn't have an answer for Nina," Michaelis said. "She has played very well in our last three matches and tonight she had another dominating performance. I was able to get everyone in the match and I thought they all did a nice job out there."

As a team, BYU hit .319 while holding the Falcons to .000 attack percentage. Air Force was only able to put down a modest 26 kills, making an equal number of hitting errors. Led by Puikkonen and Sunny Mahe, who had nine kills, BYU put down 48 kills to nearly double Air Force's total.

The undersized Falcons had trouble getting past the taller Cougar front wall. BYU tallied 12 team blocks, while the Falcons had three. BYU also had a good service game with nine aces. Natalie Whittaker led the way with a career-high five aces to equal the Falcon's total for the match.

Delavane Diaz led Air Force with seven kills in 22 attempts and shared team-high honors with five digs. The Falcons dropped to 1-16 overall and 0-10 in the conference with the loss.

BYU looks to sweep its three-matches-in-three-nights road swing through three states when it faces New Mexico Saturday in Albuquerque. The Cougars defeated Sacramento State Thursday 3-1.

Volleyball Box Score

The Automated ScoreBook

BYU Cougars vs Air Force Falcons (Oct 26, 2001 at Air Force Academy)

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| 4 1 9 .333| 0| 5 2| 1| 3| 0 1 0| 0| 9.5

5 PUIKKONEN, Karina... 3| 3 2 10 .100| 38| 0 1| 0| 5| 0 4 0| 0| 5.0

9 PUIKKONEN, Nina..... 3| 17 3 23 .609| 0| 1 3| 0| 0| 1 9 0| 0| 23.5

10 BUNDY, Jackie....... 2| 4 1 7 .429| 0| 1 1| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0| 5.0

12 CRABBE, Uila........ 3| 0 0 0 .000| 1| 1 0| 2| 5| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0

15 MAHE, Sunny......... 2| 9 2 14 .500| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 9.0

4 WARNICK, Becky...... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0

6 STEELE, Lindsey..... 1| 2 0 5 .400| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 1 1| 0| 2.5

7 LARSON, Allison..... 1| 2 4 7 -.286| 0| 1 1| 0| 2| 0 2 0| 0| 4.0

8 BOWERS, Carrie...... 2| 1 1 6 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 3 0| 0| 2.5

11 RICHARDS, Lauren.... 3| 6 4 13 .154| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 2 1| 0| 7.0

17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle.. 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 2| 4| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Totals.............. 3| 48 18 94 .319| 40| 9 8| 5| 22| 1 22 2| 0| 69.0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0

Game K E TA Pct

1 18 5 33 .394 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 TEAM RECORDS

2 17 5 32 .375 BYU Cougars......... 30 30 30 14-4, 7-2 MWC

3 13 8 29 .172 Air Force Falcons... 19 18 23 1-16, 0-10 MWC

Air Force Falcons | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN

## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3 HUITT, Kristin...... 3| 0 0 0 .000| 14| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 0 0| 1| 0.0

7 JEFFERSON, Lamecca.. 3| 5 6 16 -.062| 0| 0 1| 1| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 5.0

8 RAIFSNIDER, Brandi.. 3| 0 1 1-1.000| 0| 0 1| 2| 5| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0

10 DIAZ, Delavane...... 3| 7 6 22 .045| 0| 2 1| 2| 5| 0 1 0| 0| 9.5

11 EDMONDS, Brittany... 3| 3 4 16 -.062| 0| 1 0| 1| 2| 0 1 0| 0| 4.5

13 NIGRO, Christina.... 3| 3 2 8 .125| 0| 1 1| 0| 0| 0 1 0| 0| 4.5

2 BURKE, Jenalee...... 3| 0 1 1-1.000| 1| 0 0| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0

5 BISHOP, Tiffany..... 3| 5 2 12 .250| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 1 1 2| 0| 6.5

12 DILDY, Katie........ 3| 2 2 7 .000| 10| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 2.0

15 WHITE, Molly........ 2| 1 2 3 -.333| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0

17 FINLEY, Melinda..... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 1 0| 1| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0

TEAM................ | | | | 2| | | | 0.0

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Totals.............. 3| 26 26 86 .000| 26| 5 4| 9| 22| 1 4 2| 1| 34.0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 3.0

Game K E TA Pct

1 9 9 26 .000 Site: Air Force Academy (Cadet East Gym)

2 9 8 30 .033 Date: Oct 26, 2001 Attend: 288 Time: 1:25

3 8 9 30 -.033 Referees: Joan Powell, Kim Pickering

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