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