Puikkonen Moves Up In Records As Cougars Win

PROVO -- All-American Nina Puikkonen passed Amy Steele Gant, moving into second on BYU's all-time total blocks list as BYU defeated Air Force Saturday, 30-13, 30-20, 30-15. Perfect in the Mountain West Conference, the Cougars improved to 3-0 and 9-1 overall. The Falcons dropped to 1-10 overall and 0-4 in the conference.

Puikkonen, with 697 total blocks, passed Gant's record (694) in the second game on her way to three blocks, 12 digs and 10 kills. "Amy was a senior when I was a redshirt freshman," Puikkonen said. "I always looked up to her. I would have never imagined that this would be possible, so it's a real honor."

"Everybody played and everybody played well," said BYU head coach Elaine Michaelis. "Tonight was a good all-around game for us."

Sunny Mahe led the Cougars with a match-high 16 kills and a match-best .750 attack percentage. "Karina (Puikkonen) really put the sets where they needed to be," Mahe said.

Puikkonen helped BYU on the attack with 36 assists, as well as seven kills, eight digs and three blocks. Natalie Whittaker had seven kills and helped the Cougar defense, tying Nina Puikkonen with a match-high 12 digs.

The Cougars hit .404 as a team while holding the Falcons to a .058 attack percentage. Air Force's Delavane Diaz led the Falcons with 13 kills and seven digs on the night.

"We should have had a few more blocks," Michaelis said about the six total team blocks. "The Air Force attack wasn't as fast as other teams we've played and we didn't time the blocks as well as we needed to."

The Cougars extended their home winning streak to 18 matches in front of a crowd of 715 at the Smith Fieldhouse Saturday. BYU travels to face Wyoming, Friday, and No. 10 Colorado State, Saturday.

Volleyball Box Score
       Air Force Falcons vs BYU Cougars (Sep 29, 2001 at BYU PROVO UTAH)
    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, Kkristin.....  3|  0   0   0  .000| 13|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 4  MARINO, Gina........  3|  2   4  12 -.167|  1|  0   1|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 7  JEFFERSON, Lammecca.  3|  6   1  10  .500|  1|  0   1|  3|  8| 0  0  1|  0|   6.0
 10 DIAZ, Delavane......  3| 13   8  41  .122|  1|  0   2|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0|  13.0
 13 NIGRO, Christina....  3|  0   2  14 -.143|  1|  1   3|  0|  6| 1  0  0|  2|   2.0
 14 McEWEN, Kaitlin.....  3|  4   2  17  .118|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0|   4.5
 5  BISHOP, Tiffany.....  1|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 8  RAIFSNIDER, Brandi..  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 11 EDMONDS, Brittany...  2|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 12 DILDY, Katie........  3|  0   0   5  .000|  6|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 25  19 103  .058| 23|  2  10|  4| 33| 1  2  1|  2|  29.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 2.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   6  5  32  .031   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  11  8  40  .075   Air Force Falcons... 13 20 15  1 - 10; 0 - 4 MWC
   3   8  6  31  .065   BYU Cougars......... 30 30 30  9 - 1 : 3 - 0 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|  7   1  20  .300|  1|  0   0|  0| 12| 0  0  0|  0|   7.0
 5  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  3|  7   1  10  .600| 36|  1   3|  0|  8| 0  3  0|  0|   9.5
 9  PUIKKONEN, Nina.....  3| 10   2  19  .421|  1|  0   2|  1| 12| 0  3  0|  0|  11.5
 10 BUNDY, Jackie.......  3|  9   5  23  .174|  1|  0   1|  1|  7| 0  2  0|  0|  10.0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  1   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 15 MAHE, Sunny.........  3| 16   1  20  .750|  4|  1   0|  0|  6| 1  1  0|  0|  18.5
 4  WARNICK, Becky......  1|  2   1   4  .250|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 6  STEELE, Lindsey.....  1|  2   0   3  .667|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   2.5
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  1|  2   2   5  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  2|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  1   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 55  13 104  .404| 46|  4   6|  2| 51| 1 10  0|  0|  65.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 6.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  5  36  .417   Site: BYU PROVO UTAH (SMITH FIELDHOUSE)
   2  18  5  39  .333   Date: Sep 29, 2001   Attend: 715   Time: 1H 15M
   3  17  3  29  .483   Referees: ERIC ASAMI, TERI JACKSON, KAREN MARSHALL
 
                       BYU's Nina Puikkonen passed Amy Steele Gant into
                        second place all-time at BYU in total blocks with
                        her first block assist in tonight's match.