Mahe Takes MVP as BYU Claims Mizuno Classic

PROVO -- No. 16 BYU swept Southwest Missouri State, 30-25, 30-22, 30-24, Saturday to win the 2001 Mizuno Classic at the Smith Fieldhouse.

The Cougars had four players named to the Mizuno Classic All-Tournament team, including Most Valuable Player Sunny Mahe. Nina Puikkonen, Karina Puikkonen and Jackie Bundy also earned all-tournament honors for BYU. Setter Elizabeth Gower of Colorado and teammate middle blocker Monique Gerlach were selected to the team along with SMS outside hitter Rese McNatt.

"It's always nice to win your own tournament," said BYU head coach Elaine Michaelis. "I didn't think it was a pretty win and we weren't very consistent. They did a good job of keeping us off balance with their serve."

Michaelis said the team did a great job on defense, holding the Bears to a .009 attack percentage. The Cougars stiffled the Bear attack with 16.5 blocks, led by Nina Puikkonen with 10 and Mahe with nine.

"Sunny and Nina make a pretty difficult block to get around," said Michaelis. "It's pretty demoralizing to get blocked three times in a row on the same play."

Mahe led the team with 14 kills and a .667 attack percentage as well as a career-high four aces. Mahe finished the tournament with a total of 25 kills, 5 aces, 16 digs and 15 blocks. "These are big wins for us," said Mahe. "We really needed these wins. In rally scoring you have to remain focused because any team can beat you."

SMS falls to 3-2 overall while BYU improves to 5-1 and prepares for No. 10 Hawaii and Loyola Marymount next week in Honolulu. "It's going to be a challenge for us," said Michaelis, "but we rise to the occasion. When the competition gets tough we get tougher."

The Cougars face Loyola Marymount Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. in Honolulu.

Mizuno Classic Team Finish

BYU, 2-0

Colorado, 1-1

SMS, 0-2

Mizuno Classic All-Tournament Team

Rese McNatt, OH, SMS

Elizabeth Gower, S, Colorado

Monique Gerlach, MB, Colorado

Karina Puikkonen, S, BYU

Jackie Bundy, MB, BYU

Nina Puikkonen, MB, BYU

(MVP) Sunny Mahe, RS, BYU

Volleyball Box Score
      SW Missouri ST Bears vs BYU Cougars (Sep 08, 2001 at BYU PROVO UTAH)
    SW Missouri ST Bears   |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 6  GORREMANS, Liesbeth.  3|  5   8  26 -.115|  2|  3   0|  0|  6| 0  2  0|  0|   9.0
 9  YOUNG, Casey........  3|  4   3  11  .091|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  2  0|  0|   6.0
 12 VanCAUTEREN, Goedele  3|  2   1   6  .167| 18|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  2  1|  2|   3.0
 13 McNATT, Rese........  3|  5   8  18 -.167|  1|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   5.0
 14 JOHNSON, Leah.......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 SANGEL, Deborah.....  2|  2   3  12 -.083|  0|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 1  PARKER, Jane........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   0|  2|  3| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 2  HODEL, Emily........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   1|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 3  WHITE, Linette......  3|  9   2  18  .389|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0|  11.0
 8  BAYLESS, Chenille...  3|  1   0   2  .500|  9|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  2|   1.5
 10 MURPHY, Erin........  3|  4   5  13 -.077|  0|  0   1|  1|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   4.0
 11 SHERWOOD, Amanda....  1|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0|   0.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 32  31 108  .009| 30|  5   4|  4| 33| 1 12  1|  4|  44.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   8  8  26  .000   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  10 12  36 -.056   SW Missouri ST Bears 25 22 24  3 - 2
   3  14 11  46  .065   BYU Cougars......... 30 30 30  5 - 1
    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  16  .188|  1|  0   1|  1|  3| 0  3  0|  0|   5.5
 5  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  3|  4   2  10  .200| 35|  0   2|  0|  2| 1  1  0|  0|   5.5
 9  PUIKKONEN, Nina.....  3| 11  12  32 -.031|  0|  0   2|  1|  2| 0 10  0|  0|  16.0
 10 BUNDY, Jackie.......  3|  9   4  22  .227|  0|  0   2|  0|  7| 0  5  1|  0|  11.5
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   2|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 15 MAHE, Sunny.........  3| 14   2  18  .667|  0|  4   1|  2|  7| 0  9  0|  0|  22.5
 4  WARNICK, Becky......  2|  0   3   8 -.375|  1|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  2  0|  0|   1.0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  2|  4   0   6  .667|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0|   4.5
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 46  24 112  .196| 39|  4  10|  5| 32| 1 31  1|  0|  66.5
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 16.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17 11  34  .176   Site: BYU PROVO UTAH (SMITH FIELDHOUSE)
   2  16  7  46  .196   Date: Sep 08, 2001   Attend: 1428   Time: 1H 25M
   3  13  6  32  .219   Referees: BRUCE GRANT, KIM NORMAN, KAREN MARSHALL