BYU Finishes Second at Point Huskies Invitational

SEATTLE -- After defeating host Washington Friday, BYU split its two matches Saturday with Texas and Purdue to place second at the Point Huskies Invitational Tournament. The 11th-ranked Cougars lost to eventual tournament champion Texas, 3-2, in a morning match before coming back with a 3-1 win over Purdue.

BYU's Sunny Mahe and Nina Puikkonen were two of six players named to the Point Huskies Invitational All-Tournament Team. Mira Topic of Texas was named tournament MVP.

"Sunny led us with an outstanding match against Purdue," BYU coach Elaine Michaelis said. "Texas is a very good team with some excellent, young international players. We did some good things but we needed to be more consistent. We learned some things in terms of how to play with the new rally-scoring format. We are starting to come together. It is still early but the potential is there."

The Cougars topped Purdue, 30-23, 30-21, 26-30, 30-20, led by junior rightside hitter Sunny Mahe's career-best 22 kills. Mahe was nearly unstoppable with only one error in 29 attempts for a .724 attack percentage. She was also one of four Cougars with double-digit digs with 12 defensive saves. As a team, BYU came up with 72 digs compared to 58 for the Boilermakers.

All-American middle blocker Nina Puikkonen joined Mahe in totaling a double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs. Redshirt freshman outside hitter Becky Warnick added 12 kills while hitting .455, while senior middle blocker Jackie Bundy contributed 11 kills. Purdue fell to 0-3 with the loss.

The Cougars suffered a tough five-game defeat to Texas in the first match Saturday, winning the first two games 30-27 and 34-32 before the Longhorns rallied to take the next three, 30-24, 30-27 and 15-13. BYU totaled 77 kills to the Longhorns' 76, but the Cougars committed 10 more hitting errors, which proved costly in the newly adopted rally-scoring format.

Several Cougars set or came close to career marks, as five players recorded double-doubles. Sophomore setter Karina Puikkonen set a new attack percentage high at .583 while finishing just one kill and one dig short of career bests with 8 and 11, respectively. She also tossed up 57 assists. Senior outside hitter Natalie Whittaker set new personal bests with 14 kills and a match-high 19 digs, and Bundy equaled her kills high with 16 and added 12 digs, just two shy of her best-ever effort. Nina Puikkonen had a team-best 19 kills with 14 digs and Uila Crabbe had career highs of 17 digs and 4 service aces.

Texas went on to defeat Washington to improve to 3-0 and claim the Point Huskies Invitational title.

BYU, 2-1, returns to Provo to host Rhode Island Monday in its home opener. The match starts at 5 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.

Final Tournament Standings

1.) Texas 3-0

2.) BYU 2-1

3.) Wash. 1-2

4.) Purdue 0-3

All-Tournament Team

Gretchen Maurer, UW

Allison Richardson, UW

Nina Puikkonen, BYU

Sunny Tonga Mahe, BYU

Bethany Howden, UT

MVP - Mira Topic, UT

Volleyball Box Score
       Purdue University vs BYU Cougars (Sep 01, 2001 at Seattle, Wash.)
    Purdue University      |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  Tiffany Yoskey......  4|  3   1   9  .222|  1|  0   2|  1|  6| 0  1  0|  2|   3.5
 3  Jen Bova............  4|  2   1  10  .100| 37|  0   1|  0| 11| 0  2  1|  0|   3.0
 7  Lyndsey Phillips....  4| 13   5  33  .242|  0|  1   0|  0|  1| 0  0  1|  0|  14.0
 8  Leah Wischmeier.....  4| 17   7  44  .227|  1|  1   0|  4|  9| 0  0  0|  0|  18.0
 9  Lori Knicker........  4|  1   1   5  .000|  0|  1   2|  2|  9| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 17 Maegan Peterson.....  2|  3   6  14 -.214|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  1|  0|   3.0
 4  Laura St. John......  4|  0   0   2  .000|  1|  0   0|  2| 13| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 6  Christy Case........  3|  2   3  18 -.056|  1|  0   1|  0|  7| 0  1  0|  0|   2.5
 10 Kim McConaha........  2|  0   1   3 -.333|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 11 Eryn Leach..........  4|  7   2  24  .208|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  2  0|  0|   9.0
 12 Joanna Lowry........  2|  0   1   8 -.125|  1|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 48  28 170  .118| 43|  3   6|  9| 61| 1  6  3|  2|  55.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   8  8  41  .000   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2   7  5  38  .053   Purdue University... 23 21 30 20  0-3
   3  19  9  47  .213   BYU Cougars......... 30 30 26 30  2-1
   4  11  6  38  .132
    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|  5   3  23  .087|  2|  1   0|  0| 15| 0  2  0|  0|   7.0
 5  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  4|  6   2  15  .267| 54|  2   4|  0|  9| 1  5  0|  1|  11.5
 9  PUIKKONEN, Nina.....  4| 14  12  41  .049|  1|  2   4|  1| 14| 1  4  0|  0|  19.0
 10 BUNDY, Jackie.......  4| 11   8  33  .091|  2|  0   1|  0|  6| 0  5  2|  0|  13.5
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  4|  0   1   1-1.000|  2|  4   2|  0| 12| 0  0  0|  0|   4.0
 15 MAHE, Sunny.........  4| 22   1  29  .724|  3|  0   3|  2| 12| 1  4  0|  0|  25.0
 4  WARNICK, Becky......  3| 12   2  22  .455|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0|  12.0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  2|  1   2   7 -.143|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0|   1.0
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 71  31 171  .234| 64|  9  14|  3| 72| 3 20  2|  1|  93.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  9  44  .205   Site: Seattle, Wash. (Bank of America)
   2  20  9  45  .244   Date: Sep 01, 2001   Attend: 460   Time: 1:55
   3  15  9  50  .120   Referees: Ron Stahl, Cecil Lynn
   4  18  4  35  .400   Point Huskies Invitational Tournament#
                              Volleyball Box Score
        Texas Longhorns vs BYU Cougars (Sep 01, 2001 at Seattle, Wash.)
    Texas Longhorns        |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  Lara, Katia.........  5| 13   6  51  .137|  0|  1   2|  2| 13| 0  0  0|  0|  14.0
 10 Wilson, Kathryn.....  5|  6   4  19  .105|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 2  4  0|  0|  10.0
 13 Duarte, Gipy........  5|  9   6  28  .107|  5|  0   3|  3|  8| 0  4  0|  0|  11.0
 15 Topic, Mira.........  5| 22   7  50  .300|  1|  6   1|  1| 13| 0  4  0|  0|  30.0
 16 Greenman, Adrian....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  2|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 17 Schindler, Abbie....  5|  2   1   6  .167| 59|  0   0|  0|  9| 0  1  0|  1|   2.5
 5  Howden, Bethany.....  5| 27   6  51  .412|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 2  5  0|  0|  31.5
 7  Coates, LaTonya.....  5|  0   0   3  .000|  0|  2   2|  0| 18| 0  0  0|  0|   2.0
 9  Lutkus, Lisa........  4|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  0  0|  0|   0.0
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 79  30 209  .234| 65|  9   8|  9| 74| 4 18  0|  1| 101.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  8  41  .220   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  5  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18 11  49  .143   Texas Longhorns..... 27 32 30 30 15  2-0
   3  16  4  45  .267   BYU Cougars......... 30 34 24 27 13  1-1
   4  15  4  46  .239
   5  13  3  28  .357
    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..  5| 14   5  35  .257|  5|  1   2|  3| 19| 0  2  0|  0|  16.0
 5  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  5|  8   1  12  .583| 57|  0   0|  0| 11| 0  2  0|  0|   9.0
 9  PUIKKONEN, Nina.....  5| 19   6  48  .271|  1|  1   3|  2| 14| 0  7  1|  0|  23.5
 10 BUNDY, Jackie.......  5| 16  11  40  .125|  2|  0   1|  0| 12| 0  4  0|  0|  18.0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  5|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  4   3|  1| 17| 0  0  0|  0|   4.0
 15 MAHE, Sunny.........  5| 14   7  46  .152|  3|  3   1|  2|  8| 0  5  0|  0|  19.5
 4  WARNICK, Becky......  3|  2   5  11 -.273|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  1  0|  0|   2.5
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  4|  4   5  18 -.056|  1|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  1  0|  0|   4.5
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  5| 77  40 210  .176| 69|  9  10|  9| 86| 0 22  1|  0|  97.0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  7  35  .257   Site: Seattle, Wash. (Pavilion Addition)
   2  18 13  53  .094   Date: Sep 01, 2001   Attend: 531   Time: 2:35
   3  17 11  52  .115   Referees: Cecil Lynn, Ron Stahl
   4  17 13  53  .075   #
   5   9  2  23  .304