No. 14 BYU Women's Volleyball Defeats No. 20 Utah Friday

All-American Nina Puikkonen Ends Night With Triple-Double

PROVO -- Led by a strong defensive effort, the No. 14 BYU women's volleyball team outlasted in-state rival Utah 15-5, 12-15, 15-13, 16-14 in Mountain West Conference women's volleyball Friday in the Smith Fieldhouse. The win improves BYU to 18-6 overall and 10-2 in the MWC while Utah dropped to 17-6 and 8-4.

The Cougars finished the night with 16 team blocks, 10 service aces and a season-high 89 digs. They also held Utah to a .103 hitting percentage. With the win, BYU secures a solid grasp on second place in the Mountain West behind No. 6 Colorado State.

"I think the biggest difference was our defense," BYU coach Elaine Michaelis said. "Our offense just wasn't clicking tonight. Our defense was the difference."

The 20th-ranked Utes also played outstanding defense, holding BYU to a .191 hitting percentage. The percentage was the lowest by the Cougars in a match they've won this season. The Utes also finished with 75 digs, four service aces and nine team blocks.

The Cougars started the match in control, winning the first game 15-5 and hitting .333 as a team in the game. After Utah took game two 15-12, the Cougars won the next game 15-13. In the fourth game BYU came from being down 14-10 to win the next six points and take the match with the 16-14 win.

Junior Nina Puikkonen ended the night with the first triple-double of her career. The All-American middle blocker finished with 22 kills, 10 blocks and a career-high 18 digs to pace the Cougars. She also had a match-high .326 hitting percentage and led all players with a career-high six service aces.

BYU also had four other players that recorded double-doubles. Freshman setter Karina Puikkonen had 56 assists and 12 digs, junior middle blocker Jackie Bundy had 15 kills and 14 digs, junior outside hitter Kalani Tonga finished with 12 kills and a career-high 18 digs and sophomore outside hitter Sunny Tonga ended with 13 kills and 10 digs.

Utah had three players end with double-doubles. Katrena Ellett paced the Utes with 15 kills and 12 digs. Lucie Turkova had 51 assists and 10 digs while Lenka Urbanova finished with 13 kills and 10 digs. Jen Snow-Richards finished with a team-high 14 digs defensively for the Utes.

BYU will finish its regular conference season with a road trip to New Mexico and the Air Force Academy next week.

Volleyball Box Score
           University of Utah vs BYU Cougars (Nov 03, 2000 at Provo)
    University of Utah     |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  SNOW-RICHARDS, Jen..  4|  6   7  25 -.040|  2|  0   1|  0| 14| 0  2  0|  0
 8  TURKOVA, Lucie......  4|  5   6  22 -.045| 51|  0   0|  0| 10| 0  3  1|  3
 9  URBANOVA, Lenka.....  4| 13   6  53  .132|  0|  0   2|  1| 10| 0  0  0|  0
 12 ELLETT, Katrena.....  4| 15   9  47  .128|  1|  4   1|  3| 12| 0  3  2|  0
 13 GEDDES, Alisa.......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   0|  2|  8| 0  0  0|  0
 15 TURNER, Kim.........  4| 14   7  35  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 1  5  0|  0
 2  MORRILL, Jackie.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 3  STILSON, McKelle....  4|  9   5  25  .160|  0|  0   0|  1|  2| 0  2  1|  0
 5  BEAL, Brenda........  2|  2   2   7  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 14 BARTON, Brooke......  4|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   3|  1| 10| 0  0  0|  0
 16 BRADLEY-DRAKE, A....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  2|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 64  42 214  .103| 58|  4   8| 10| 75| 1 15  4|  3
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   7  6  29  .034   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  8  52  .135   University of Utah..  5 15 13 14  17 - 6 8 - 4
   3  23 15  75  .107   BYU Cougars......... 15 12 15 16  18 - 6 10- 2
   4  19 13  58  .103
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  4|  7   5  24  .083| 56|  1   1|  0| 12| 0  4  2|  1
 9  PUIKKONEN, Nina.....  4| 22   7  46  .326|  4|  6   3|  0| 18| 3  7  1|  0
 10 BUNDY, Jackie.......  4| 15   7  35  .229|  0|  0   4|  2| 14| 0  5  0|  0
 12 LAYTON, Melissa.....  4|  5   6  18 -.056|  0|  0   3|  1| 11| 1  2  0|  0
 14 TONGA, Kalani.......  4| 12   4  34  .235|  2|  1   1|  0| 18| 0  0  0|  0
 15 TONGA, Sunny........  4| 13   7  42  .143|  5|  2   2|  0| 10| 0  6  1|  0
 2  WHITTAKER, Natalie..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 3  CRABBE, Uila........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  1
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 74  36 199  .191| 67| 10  14|  4| 89| 4 24  4|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 16.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  6  30  .333   Site: Provo (SFH)
   2  15  8  52  .135   Date: Nov 03, 2000   Attend: 2747   Time: 2H 10M
   3  24 12  64  .188   Referees: SUE LEMAIRE, TOM GIVEN, KIM DENNEY
   4  19 10  53  .170