BYU Women's Volleyball Sweeps Irish In Non-Conference Match

PROVO -- Despite slow starts in the first two games of the match, the eighth-ranked BYU women's volleyball team defeated Notre Dame 15-12, 15-7, 15-7 Tuesday at the Smith Fieldhouse.

The Cougars fell down 6-1 in the first game, due partly to eight BYU service errors, before regrouping and winning the game 15-12. BYU also had a slow start in the second game, falling behind 5-0 before scoring 15 of the last 17 points of the game to win 15-7.

"You can't make points if you miss serves," BYU coach Elaine Michaelis said of the eight service errors. "I think there was a little lack of focus at the beginning. As our confidence came our service was better."

Leading the way for the Cougars was sophomore middle blocker Nina Puikkonen. Puikkonen, a freshman All-American selection last season after leading the nation in blocking, finished the night with 20 kills, 10 digs and 7 blocks in the three-game match. She also ended the night with a .405 hitting percentage.

BYU finished the night hitting .299 as a team. This was in large part because of the setting of All-American setter Anna-Lena Smith, who finished the night with 44 assists. Smith now needs 46 assists to break the career assists record at BYU.

The Cougars return to Mountain West Conference play when they travel to No. 15 Colorado State Friday and Wyoming Saturday. They finish this weekend's road trip, which includes four games in five days, with a trip to Arizona State Monday and No. 18 Arizona Tuesday.

-- BYU --

Volleyball Box Score
        Notre Dame Irish vs Brigham Young (Oct 19, 1999 at BYU PROVO,UT)
    Notre Dame Irish       |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  BOYLAN, Denise......  3|  2   0   6  .333| 29|  0   1|  0|  6| 0  3  2|  0
 4  KREHER, Kristy......  3| 13  10  34  .088|  3|  2   4|  0| 10| 0  0  0|  0
 6  BOMHACK, Marcie.....  3|  5   4  23  .043|  0|  2   0|  1|  7| 0  1  0|  0
 7  GIRTON, Christi.....  1|  4   1  12  .250|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 8  LEFFERS, Mary.......  3|  7   4  26  .115|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  1  0|  0
 9  JAMEYSON, Jo........  2|  2   4   9 -.222|  0|  1   0|  1|  8| 0  1  0|  0
 3  GORALSKI, Malinda...  1|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 5  SCHIEBOUT, Emily....  2|  2   1   8  .125|  1|  0   2|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 11 COUGHLIN, Keara.....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  1|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 12 SHIMMEL, Adrienne...  3|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  0  0|  0
 14 ALDERETE, Janie.....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 36  24 120  .100| 33|  5   8|  3| 44| 0  6  2|  0
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 3.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  12  9  48  .062   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  15  9  44  .136   Notre Dame Irish.... 12  7  7  10-5 4-0
   3   9  6  28  .107   Brigham Young....... 15 15 15  14-2 5-0
    Brigham Young          |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  WHITTAKER, Natalie..  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  0   1|  1|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 3  SMITH, Anna-Lena....  3|  5   2  16  .188| 44|  1   1|  0|  4| 0  5  1|  1
 8  BOWER, Caroline.....  3|  9   2  21  .333|  1|  2   1|  1|  9| 0  3  0|  0
 9  PUIKKONEN, Nina.....  3| 20   6  39  .359|  0|  0   4|  0| 10| 0  7  0|  0
 10 BUNDY, Jackie.......  3|  7   1  13  .462|  2|  0   2|  2| 12| 0  3  0|  0
 12 LAYTON, Melissa.....  3|  5   3  15  .133|  1|  0   4|  1|  5| 0  2  0|  0
 14 CARPENTER, Mari.....  2|  8   4  24  .167|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0
 15 TONGA, Sunny........  2|  5   1  10  .400|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  1  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 59  19 138  .290| 49|  3  13|  5| 44| 1 23  1|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  24  9  64  .234   Site: BYU PROVO,UT (SFH)
   2  20  7  44  .295   Date: Oct 19, 1999   Attend: 1218   Time: 1H 25M
   3  15  3  30  .400   Referees: ANNETTE COTTLE, QUINETTE DUNN, KAREN MARSHALL