Mahe Impresses in Win at Wyoming

LARAMIE -- Led by Sunny Mahe's 15 kills and .542 attack percentage, No. 14 BYU improved to 10-1 overall and 4-0 in the Mountain West Conference with a three-game victory over Wyoming Friday. Wyoming fell to 6-5 overall and 1-2 in conference play with the 30-24, 30-27, 30-24 defeat.

Mahe, who was named the AVCA Sports Imports National Player of the Week Monday, continued her strong play with a mach-high 15 kills with only two hitting errors in 24 attempts. She also added six blocks and four digs.

BYU handed the Cowgirls only their second loss in seven home matches this season at Multi-Purpose Gym. The Cougars led the Cowgirls in every statistical category but did not have a strong offensive outing, hitting .211 for the match. BYU was strong on defense, however, holding Wyoming to a .053 hitting percentage while out blocking the Cowgirls 12 blocks to four.

"Sunny and Natalie (Whittaker) carried us tonight because we didn't really play very well overall," BYU coach Elaine Michaelis said. "Sunny had her usual great match and Natalie hit .294 and was strong as usual on defense. Wyoming was very aggressive and confident and has a good young team. We just made a lot of errors."

All-American middle blocker Nina Puikkonen put down 11 kills, her 11th straight match with 10 or more kills, while totaling a match-high seven blocks and eight digs. Jackie Bundy added eight kills while Natalie Whittaker and freshman Lauren Richards contributed seven kills apiece. Richards played in her first match of the year after initial plans to redshirt this season. Defensive specialist Uila Crabbe had a match-best 11 digs for the Cougars.

Michele Rauter and Sara Maytorena led Wyoming with 10 kills each while Rauter and Jill Roslund tallied a team-best nine digs. Melissa Robinett was the only Cowgirl to have more than one block, with one block solo and one block assist.

BYU travels to Fort Collins to play No. 9 Colorado State Saturday at 7 p.m. in Moby Arena while Wyoming will host No. 19 Utah Saturday in Laramie.

Box Score
                            The Automated ScoreBook
        BYU Cougars vs Wyoming Cowgirls (Oct 05, 2001 at Laramie, Wyo.)
    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|  7   2  17  .294|  0|  0   1|  1|  9| 1  1  0|  0|   8.5
 5  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  3|  2   2   8  .000| 42|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  2  0|  0|   3.0
 9  PUIKKONEN, Nina.....  3| 11   6  25  .200|  0|  1   2|  1|  8| 2  5  0|  0|  16.5
 10 BUNDY, Jackie.......  3|  8   8  22  .000|  0|  1   0|  1|  2| 0  4  0|  0|  11.0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0| 11| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 15 MAHE, Sunny.........  3| 15   2  24  .542|  0|  0   1|  1|  4| 0  6  0|  0|  18.0
 11 RICHARDS, Lauren....  3|  7   5  17  .118|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   7.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 50  26 114  .211| 42|  2   5|  4| 40| 3 18  0|  0|  64.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17 10  36  .194   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  17 10  45  .156   BYU Cougars......... 30 30 30  10-1, 4-0
   3  16  6  33  .303   Wyoming Cowgirls.... 24 27 24  6-5, 1-2
    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|  2   0   3  .667| 32|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0|   2.5
 2  RAUTER, Michele.....  3| 10   8  26  .077|  0|  0   1|  1|  9| 0  0  0|  0|  10.0
 4  ROSLUND, Jill.......  3|  3   7  21 -.190|  1|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  0  0|  0|   3.0
 7  PATRICK, Shannon....  3|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 9  MAYTORENA, Sara.....  3|  7   4  17  .176|  0|  2   1|  0|  7| 1  0  0|  0|  10.0
 16 LAU, Rachel.........  3| 10   9  27  .037|  0|  2   2|  0|  0| 1  0  0|  0|  13.0
 6  ROBINETT, Melissa...  3|  5   2  17  .176|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  1  0|  0|   6.5
 14 LATIMER, Vanessa....  3|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 37  31 114  .053| 33|  4   4|  2| 35| 3  2  0|  0|  45.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  8  38  .158   Site: Laramie, Wyo. (MultiPurpose Gym)
   2  11 12  43 -.023   Date: Oct 05, 2001   Attend: 607   Time: 1:25
   3  12 11  33  .030   Referees: Ken Taylor, Chuck Ellis