Cougars Win Conference Opener over UNLV

PROVO -- A quick offensive attack and solid defense were the catalysts in No. 15 BYU's Mountain West Conference season-opening victory over UNLV Friday. The Cougars started the defense of their MWC title by defeating the Rebels 15-5, 15-1, 4-15, 15-8 in front of 1,261 fans at the Smith Fieldhouse.

"We played as good as we have all year in the first two games," said BYU coach Elaine Michaelis, whose team hit .387 and .517, respectively, in games one and two. "We were very effective with our quick attack and we did a nice job on defense with our block and digging balls."

The Cougars, who improve to 8-3 overall and 1-0 in the MWC, had 15 digs in the first game alone on the way to 38 digs for the night, 10 more than the now 0-10 Rebels. Junior middle blocker Jackie Bundy and senior outside hitter Melissa Layton led the defensive effort with nine digs each. All-American junior middle blocker Nina Puikkonen, who leads the nation in blocking, had a match-high four blocks to lead the Cougars.

Puikkonen added a match-high 11 kills while Bundy and sophomore Sunny Tonga contributed 10 apiece. Tonga did not make a hitting error in 17 attempts on her way to a match-high attack percentage of .588.

"Karina (Puikkonen) did a good job of splitting the block (with her sets)," Tonga said. "I was able to hit the holes because of the one-on-one matchups. She really did a nice job."

Karina Puikkonen tossed up 33 assists with three digs and two blocks in three games. Sophomore setter Martha Brinton played one game and had six assists. BYU out hit the Rebels .304 to .100 and also added 10 aces, its second-best total of the season.

With the win, Michaelis is now one win away from her 850th career win. She will have a chance to reach that milestone Saturday when the Cougars face San Diego State at 8 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse. Admission is free with a ticket stub from Saturday's BYU vs. UNLV football game.

Volleyball Box Score
          UNLV Rebels vs BYU Cougars (Sep 22, 2000 at BYU PROVO UTAH)
    UNLV Rebels            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  GOES, Maria Julia...  4|  0   0   0  .000| 24|  0   0|  0|  7| 0  1  0|  0
 3  ASSUNCAO, Patricia..  4|  4   1  11  .273|  0|  3   2|  3|  5| 0  1  1|  0
 4  OSWALD, Leiana......  4|  8   5  22  .136|  0|  2   2|  3|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 8  FITZ, Oge...........  4|  7   5  32  .062|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  1  0|  0
 11 WILKES, Blair.......  4|  5   2  15  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 13 GRAHAM, Amber.......  3|  5   5  15  .000|  0|  0   2|  1|  0| 0  2  0|  1
 1  SHEA, Robyn.........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 5  CHASE, Shannon......  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  1|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 6  PALEPOI, Cordelia...  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  1|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 15 KIRSCHNER, Christina  2|  1   2   5 -.200|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
 17 RAMOS, Ana..........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  2   1|  1|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 30  20 100  .100| 25|  7   9| 10| 28| 0  8  1|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   3  6  29 -.103   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2  11  6  32  .156   UNLV Rebels.........  5  1 15  8  0 - 10 0 - 1
   3  10  2  18  .444   BYU Cougars......... 15 15  4 15  8 - 3  1 - 0
   4   6  6  21  .000
    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|  3   0   4  .750| 33|  1   2|  0|  3| 1  1  0|  1
 9  PUIKKONEN, Nina.....  4| 11   2  20  .450|  0|  1   2|  0|  5| 0  4  0|  0
 10 BUNDY, Jackie.......  4| 10   5  17  .294|  2|  1   3|  2|  9| 0  1  1|  0
 12 LAYTON, Melissa.....  4|  8   8  23  .000|  0|  1   1|  1|  9| 0  1  0|  0
 14 TONGA, Kalani.......  4|  8   3  20  .250|  3|  3   1|  3|  6| 2  0  0|  0
 15 TONGA, Sunny........  4| 10   0  17  .588|  1|  2   3|  1|  5| 0  3  0|  0
 2  WHITTAKER, Natalie..  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 7  BRINTON, Martha.....  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  6|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 50  19 102  .304| 45| 10  13|  7| 38| 3 10  1|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  17  5  31  .387   Site: BYU PROVO UTAH (SMITH FIELDHOUSE BYU)
   2  17  2  29  .517   Date: Sep 22, 2000   Attend: 1261   Time: 1H 30MIN
   3   6  8  21 -.095   Referees: KEN TAYLOR, KIM NORMAN, KAREN MARSHALL 
   4  10  4  21  .286