Puikkonen, Bundy Lead BYU past Sacramento State

SACRAMENTO -- All-American Nina Puikkonen continued her hot play Thursday, nearly posting a triple-double while leading No. 16 BYU to a 3-1 victory over Sacramento State.

BYU improved to 13-4 this year with its 28-30, 30-18, 30-21, 30-28 win over the Hornets, who fell to 15-6 with the loss.

Coming off a 24-kill, 14-dig, eight-block effort in a loss at Utah, Puikkonen was again dominating with 21 kills and a season-high 18 digs along with nine blocks. She had a team-best .400 attack percentage to help the Cougars out hit the Hornets .259 to .143.

"The team really came together tonight after a slow start," BYU coach Elaine Michaelis said. "Jackie (Bundy) had a great night in her hometown and Nina really came on as the match progressed."

In addition to Puikkonen, two other Cougars recorded double-doubles, including Sacramento native Jackie Bundy with 14 kills and 10 digs in front of some hometown fans. Setter Karina Puikkonen tossed up 57 assists and added 10 digs. Sunny Mahe contributed 17 kills to the Cougar attack while freshman Lauren Richards had 10 kills. Mountain West Conference assist leader Natalie Whittaker had 17 digs for the Cougars.

Tasman Dwyer totaled 18 kills with a .400 hitting percentage to lead Sacramento State. Kazmiera Imrie added 12 kills and a team-high 14 digs for the Hornets.

BYU continues its three-matches-in-three-nights road swing with MWC contests at the Air Force Academy Friday and at New Mexico Saturday.

Volleyball Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
        BYU Cougars vs Sacramento State (10-25-01 at Sacramento, 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..  4|  6   3  23  .130|  0|  3   0|  0| 17| 0  1  0|  0|   9.5
 5  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  4|  2   2  11  .000| 57|  0   1|  0| 10| 0  3  0|  3|   3.5
 9  PUIKKONEN, Nina.....  4| 21   7  35  .400|  0|  0   0|  0| 18| 0  9  1|  0|  25.5
 10 BUNDY, Jackie.......  4| 14   5  29  .310|  2|  1   2|  0| 10| 1  4  0|  0|  18.0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  4|  1   0   1 1.000|  1|  1   0|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 15 MAHE, Sunny.........  4| 17   3  44  .318|  5|  1   2|  1|  6| 0  7  0|  0|  21.5
 11 RICHARDS, Lauren....  4| 10   7  27  .111|  1|  0   0|  1|  0| 0  2  1|  0|  11.0
    TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |   |   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 71  27 170  .259| 66|  6   5|  3| 68| 1 26  2|  3|  91.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  8  46  .239   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  17  3  34  .412   BYU Cougars......... 28 30 30 30  (13-4)
   3  17  4  36  .361   Sacramento State.... 30 18 21 28  (15-6)
   4  18 12  54  .111
    Sacramento State       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 3  Kazmiera Imrie......  4| 12   3  32  .281|  0|  1   1|  1| 14| 0  2  3|  0|  14.0
 4  Jayme Wright........  4| 10   8  44  .045|  1|  0   2|  2|  9| 0  3  0|  0|  11.5
 7  Tasman Dwyer........  4| 18   4  35  .400|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  7  0|  0|  22.5
 9  Kelly Voeltz........  4|  3   8  25 -.200|  2|  1   2|  1|  7| 0  2  0|  0|   5.0
 10 Lisa Beauchene......  4|  7   4  21  .143| 46|  0   0|  0| 12| 0  2  0|  0|   8.0
 12 Alison Gahr.........  4|  8   5  20  .150|  3|  0   1|  0|  6| 2  1  0|  0|  10.5
 1  Sandra Bandimere....  3|  1   1   4  .000|  1|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   2.5
 11 Loretta Coffman.....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 15 Olivia Thomas.......  4|  0   0   1  .000|  2|  0   1|  2| 13| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 59  33 182  .143| 55|  3   8|  6| 63| 3 18  3|  0|  74.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  19  6  44  .295   Site: Sacramento, Calif. (Hornet Gym)
   2  12  8  37  .108   Date: 10-25-01       Attend: 792   Time: 1:45
   3  15  9  47  .128   Referees: John Martin, Bob Oshita
   4  13 10  54  .056