BYU Women's Volleyball Sweeps No. 3 Colorado State

PROVO -- Led by a career night from junior middle blocker Jackie Bundy, the No. 16 BYU women's volleyball team upset No. 3 Colorado State 15-1, 15-4, 15-11 Saturday in just over an hour at the Smith Fieldhouse. BYU improves to 17-6 overall and 9-2 in the Mountain West Conference play while Colorado State drops to 23-2 overall and 9-1.

Bundy led the Cougar offensive attack with 10 kills and a career-high .769 hitting percentage. She also had five digs and a team-high six blocks. All-American Nina Puikkonen finished with a match-high 12 kills and added four blocks and four digs.

The Cougars jumped on the Rams quickly, winning the first game 15-1 and the second 15-4. BYU coach Elaine Michaelis said a key to the quick start for the Cougars was their tempo of play.

"I think we came out and played at a faster pace than Colorado State was expecting," Michaelis said, whose team ended Colorado State's 18-match winning streak. "That got us off to a good start and we were able to keep it going."

With the win over the Rams, BYU has now defeated a No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 team this season. BYU defeated then-No. 1 Stanford on Sept. 8 and then-No. 2 Long Beach State on Sept. 9.

BYU made up for its Sept. 29 loss to the Rams in Ft. Collins, Colo., when the Cougars lost in three straight games and looked like a much different team.

"We knew they were very talented athletically, but they had some passing and setting problems when we played them in Ft. Collins," Colorado State coach Tom Hilbert said of the Cougars. "They seemed to have shored those things up, at least tonight and in this gym. The first two games went so fast it was hard to see what happened. They just dominated."

The Cougar defense also played well, holding the Rams to a season-low -.021 hitting percentage. Their previous low was .201 against No. 1 Nebraska in their only other loss this season. Colorado State was second in the nation coming into the match hitting .323 as a team.

"This was a case of us being on top of our game," Michaelis said. "We have been concentrating on getting better every day. I have to give credit to the players. They came out so determined and they carried out the game plan perfectly."

The Cougars finished the night with a .318 hitting percentage. Freshman setter Karina Puikkonen ended the night with 33 assists, four blocks and a match-high two service aces.

Colorado State was led by junior Courtney Cox, who finished the night with 11 kills. BYU held junior Angela Knopf, who was second in the nation in hitting percentage coming into the week at .504, to a .083 percentage and only four kills.

BYU will next host No. 20 Utah Friday at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. Utah defeated the Cougars in three games at Utah on Oct. 6.

Volleyball Box Score
            CSU Rams vs BYU Cougars (Oct 28, 2000 at BYU PROVO UTAH)
    CSU Rams               |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 4  COX, Courtney.......  3| 11   6  33  .152|  0|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  2  0|  0
 5  KNOPF, Angela.......  3|  4   3  12  .083|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  6  0|  0
 6  SANTOS, Soraya......  3|  3   4  16 -.062|  0|  0   0|  0|  6| 0  3  0|  0
 8  SWARTZENDRUBER, Kris  3|  1   4  11 -.273|  1|  1   1|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 9  JENNINGS, Summer....  3|  2   4  11 -.182|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 15 PECKHAM, Allison....  3|  1   0   4  .250| 21|  0   1|  1|  3| 0  1  0|  0
 3  DARGER, Emily.......  3|  0   3   6 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  1  0|  0
 13 KNOX, MICHELLE......  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 17 PETTIT, Katherine...  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 20 KERR, Kelly.........  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 22  24  94 -.021| 22|  1   5|  2| 22| 0 14  0|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 7.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   2  8  29 -.207   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2   2  8  21 -.286   CSU Rams............  1  4 11  23 - 2  9 - 1 MWC
   3  18  8  44  .227   BYU Cougars......... 15 15 15  17 - 6  9 - 2 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
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 5  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  3|  4   0   8  .500| 33|  2   1|  0|  2| 0  4  0|  0
 9  PUIKKONEN, Nina.....  3| 12   5  25  .280|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 0  4  0|  0
 10 BUNDY, Jackie.......  3| 10   0  13  .769|  2|  0   3|  0|  5| 0  6  1|  0
 12 LAYTON, Melissa.....  3|  3   6  13 -.231|  0|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  2  0|  0
 14 TONGA, Kalani.......  3|  5   2   9  .333|  1|  0   0|  0|  5| 0  1  0|  0
 15 TONGA, Sunny........  3|  6   1  15  .333|  1|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  4  0|  0
 2  WHITTAKER, Natalie..  1|  3   1   5  .400|  0|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 43  15  88  .318| 37|  2   6|  1| 31| 0 21  1|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   9  2  18  .389   Site: BYU PROVO UTAH (SMITH FIELDHOUSE BYU)
   2   9  5  17  .235   Date: Oct 28, 2000   Attend: 2681   Time: 1H 5M
   3  25  8  53  .321   Referees: VERNA KLUBNIKIN, QUINETTE DUNN, KAREN MARSHALL