Puikkonen Sisters Lead BYU Over Temple

PROVO -- Led by good distribution from freshman setter Karina Puikkonen and powerful play from older sister Nina Puikkonen, the No. 10 BYU women's volleyball team swept Temple 15-2, 15-5, 15-2 Saturday in the Smith Fieldhouse. The win improves the Cougars' record to 7-3 overall while Temple drops to 3-6.

Karina Puikkonen finished the night with 28 assists and helped the Cougars achieve a season-high .412 team hitting percentage. Nina Puikkonen, an All-American middle blocker, led the way for the Cougars with 10 kills and 12 blocks. Senior Melissa Layton finished with nine kills, eight digs and a season-high .615 hitting percentage.

"I was really pleased with our performance tonight," said BYU coach Elaine Michaelis, whose team lost its first two matches of the week. "The team came out relaxed and rested. They were themselves again."

Leading the way for Temple were seniors Alma Kovaci and Brandy Best. They each ended the night with six kills. Kovaci also led the Owls with eight digs.

The Cougars also had effective serving, finishing with eight service aces while having only six service errors. Junior outside hitter Kalani Tonga, junior middle blocker Jackie Bundy and Nina Puikkonen each had two service aces.

"I thought we served really well," Michaelis said. "We didn't have too many errors and we were able to put our block in good position because they had a hard time passing because of our serving."

BYU, the defending Mountain West Conference champions, will start conference play Friday when they host UNLV at 7 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.

Volleyball Box Score
          TEMPLE Owls vs BYU Cougars (Sep 16, 2000 at BYU PROVO UTAH)
    TEMPLE Owls            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  KOVACI, Alma........  3|  6   8  26 -.077|  0|  0   2|  3|  8| 0  1  1|  1
 3  SCHUMACHER, Tersa...  3|  2   3   7 -.143| 14|  0   1|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 10 BEST, Brandy........  3|  6   3  11  .273|  0|  0   1|  0|  0| 0  2  0|  0
 12 VUTSKOVA, Maria.....  1|  0   1   3 -.333|  1|  0   1|  1|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 13 HILL, Charity.......  3|  1   0   5  .200|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  1  0|  0
 14 SASAKI, Risa........  2|  2   2   7  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 2  LEE, Solana.........  1|  0   0   1  .000|  6|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 4  MAJEWSKA, Margaret..  1|  0   1   1-1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 8  STONE, Sara.........  2|  4   1   6  .500|  0|  0   0|  1|  1| 0  2  0|  0
 9  OLTEANU, Raluca.....  3|  2   2   7  .000|  0|  1   2|  2|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 11 HABA, Yamit.........  3|  0   1   2 -.500|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 23  22  76  .013| 21|  1   7|  8| 15| 1  6  1|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1   5  6  21 -.048   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  14  8  34  .176   TEMPLE Owls.........  2  5  2  3 - 6
   3   4  8  21 -.190   BYU Cougars......... 15 15 15  7 - 3
    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| 28|  1   0|  0|  2| 0  3  0|  0
 9  PUIKKONEN, Nina.....  3| 10   4  15  .400|  0|  2   2|  0|  4| 1 11  0|  0
 10 BUNDY, Jackie.......  3|  4   2  10  .200|  0|  2   1|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0
 12 LAYTON, Melissa.....  3|  9   1  13  .615|  1|  1   2|  0|  8| 0  4  0|  0
 14 TONGA, Kalani.......  2|  6   2  11  .364|  0|  2   0|  1|  3| 0  3  0|  0
 15 TONGA, Sunny........  3|  5   2  11  .273|  0|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  6  0|  0
 2  WHITTAKER, Natalie..  1|  1   0   3  .333|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 7  BRINTON, Martha.....  1|  1   0   1 1.000|  4|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 17 OTTESON, Michelle...  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 39  11  68  .412| 33|  8   6|  1| 25| 1 29  0|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 15.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  12  3  19  .474   Site: BYU PROVO UTAH (SMITH FIELDHOUSE BYU)
   2  18  6  32  .375   Date: Sep 16, 2000   Attend: 872   Time: 2H
   3   9  2  17  .412   Referees: KIM NORMAN, TERRI