Puikkonen Powers BYU to Second-Place Finish at Texas A&M Tournament

Puikkonen and Bowers Named to All-Tournament Team

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (Sept.14, 2002) -- Karina Puikkonen catalyzed a previously struggling Cougar offense, as the BYU women's volleyball team swept Sam Houston State 31-29, 30-17, 30-20 and lost a hard fought match, 29-31, 21-30, 38-36, 22-30, to No. 16 Texas A&M on the final day of the 2002 McDonald's Texas A&M Invitational.

Now 5-6 on the year, BYU finished with a 2-1 tournament record to place second behind host Texas A&M, which went 3-0 to improve to 8-1 on the year.

Puikkonen has played a major role in the Cougars' success, which was evident in her tournament play. In the two Saturday matches she averaged 14.00 assists, 2.14 kills, 3.57 digs, 1.00 blocks and 0.43 service aces per game with a .419 hitting percentage. She also led the Cougars to a .301 team hitting percentage.

After starting the season 2-5, BYU reeled off three straight wins, with the victory over the Bearkats, to reach the .500 mark for the first time this season.

"'We're doing a lot better," head coach Karen Lamb said. "Everybody was really solid. Our offense was smooth and our blocking continues to be strong."

The Cougars dominated the Bearkats as they had a .360 to .038 edge in attack percentage. BYU started strong in the first game, in which it compiled 20 kills (.364), but the stellar play of Sam Houston State's Carrie Sartain kept the game close as she came up with numerous timely plays.

"Sartain was hurting us in that first game," Lamb said. "So we made an adjustment and were able to shut her down."

The second game was a study in contrasts as BYU held Sam Houston State to a -.024 attack percentage while hitting .400. The third game was much the same as BYU built an early lead only to pull away and cruise to the win. The Cougars continued their blocking prowess by outblocking the Bearkats 11.0-3.0. Sam Houston State fell to 6-4 with the loss.

There were numerous career performance against the Bearkats. Lindsey Metcalf led the way as she had a match and career-high 13 kills (.440) with 13 digs for her second double-double of the season. Puikkonen had a double-double of her own as she recorded 44 assists and 10 digs. Laura Nielsen was the only other Cougar with double-digit kills as she racked up a career-high 10.

After a hot start, Sartain ended with 12 kills while hitting .023.

In the night match, BYU went toe-to-toe with No. 16 Texas A&M to decide the tournament championship, but came up short.

"We just didn't pass or serve well and that was the major difference tonight," Lamb said.

Individually, Puikkonen saved her best for the match against the Aggies. She compiled her first career triple-double with 54 assists, 15 digs and 11 kills with a .455 attack percentage. For good measure Puikkonen also came up with a team-high five blocks.

In the pivotal first game, BYU took a 22-17 lead on a Metcalf kill, but the Aggies stormed back to tie it with a 5-0 run capped with a kill by tournament MVP Laura Jones. The teams traded points until Texas A&M was able to pull away late.

The Cougar offense sputtered in the second game as they hit .054 to be forced into a 0-2 hole, but BYU came back in the third game and fought through to take an extended game. In the fourth game, Texas A&M took a 12-13 lead and never looked back as it cruised to the win.

April Varner had 13 kills and 18 digs to record a double-double, Allison Larson had a team-leading 15 kills and Carrie Bowers picked up 14 kills. The Cougars also outblocked the Aggies 8.5-3.0.

The Aggies were led by Melissa Munsch who had 24 kills on .277 hitting with 11 digs for a double-double. For the match Texas A&M outhit BYU .291 to .267.

For BYU, Karina Puikkonen and Carrie Bowers were named to the all-tournament team. It is Bowers second consecutive all-tournament selection.

BYU will next be in action Thursday as it takes on Arkansas in the Smith Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. The match will be aired live on BYUTV and on BYU Radio.

                              Volleyball Box Score
     BYU Cougars vs Sam Houston State (Sep 14, 2002 at College Station, TX)
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  3|  4   1   9  .333| 44|  2   3|  0| 10| 0  2  0|  1
 3  VARNER, April.......  3|  9   2  25  .280|  0|  0   0|  2| 11| 2  0  0|  0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  3| 13   2  25  .440|  0|  0   1|  2| 13| 0  4  0|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  3|  9   1  17  .471|  1|  1   3|  0|  3| 0  6  2|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  3|  0   0   1  .000|  3|  1   3|  1|  6| 0  0  0|  0
 18 NIELSEN, Laura......  3| 10   3  19  .368|  0|  0   1|  0|  4| 1  2  0|  0
 5  CASTILLO, Sahara....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  3|  8   3  17  .294|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  2  0|  0
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  3|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  0   0|  3|  9| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 53  12 114  .360| 49|  4  11|  8| 58| 3 16  2|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 11.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  4  44  .364   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  18  4  35  .400   BYU Cougars......... 31 30 30  5-5
   3  15  4  35  .314   Sam Houston State... 29 17 20  6-4
    Sam Houston State      |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  Butler, Karlee......  3|  3   1  13  .154| 28|  0   1|  0|  7| 0  1  0|  2
 3  Dahlstrom, Liz......  3|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  1   0|  2|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 6  Jefferson, Dana.....  3|  6   6  18  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  2| 0  2  1|  0
 8  Sartain, Carrie.....  3| 12  11  43  .023|  0|  3   1|  1|  7| 0  0  0|  0
 12 Engle, Chrissy......  3|  3   5  20 -.100|  0|  2   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 15 Henrichsen, Jennifer  3|  7   5  27  .074|  1|  0   0|  0| 15| 0  0  0|  0
 1  Johnson, Chelsea....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  1|  2   1|  0|  3| 0  0  0|  0
 7  Orlowski, Emily.....  3|  0   0   1  .000|  1|  0   0|  1|  4| 0  0  0|  0
 11 Palmer, Teri........  3|  3   1   8  .250|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  3  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  3| 34  29 131  .038| 32|  8   3|  4| 43| 0  6  1|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 3.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  14  9  45  .111   Site: College Station, TX (G. Rollie White Col.)
   2   8  9  41 -.024   Date: Sep 14, 2002   Attend: 75   Time: 1:05
   3  12 11  45  .022   Referees: Mary Blalock, Michael Blalock
                              Volleyball Box Score
         BYU Cougars vs Texas A&M (Sep 14, 2002 at College Station, TX)
    BYU Cougars            |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2  PUIKKONEN, Karina...  4| 11   1  22  .455| 54|  1   2|  0| 15| 0  5  1|  1
 3  VARNER, April.......  4| 13   1  33  .364|  1|  1   3|  2| 18| 0  1  0|  0
 6  METCALF, Lindsey....  4|  9   3  42  .143|  3|  0   3|  0| 19| 0  0  1|  0
 8  BOWERS, Carrie......  4| 14   3  33  .333|  0|  0   1|  0|  2| 1  3  0|  0
 12 CRABBE, Uila........  4|  0   0   0  .000|  5|  0   0|  6| 20| 0  0  0|  0
 18 NIELSEN, Laura......  4|  9   5  30  .133|  1|  0   3|  0|  5| 0  2  1|  0
 5  CASTILLO, Sahara....  2|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
 7  LARSON, Allison.....  4| 15   3  31  .387|  1|  0   4|  0|  2| 1  2  0|  0
 10 WEBB, Erin..........  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 15 WILSON, Kimberly....  1|  0   2   3 -.667|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
 17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle..  4|  0   1   1-1.000|  2|  0   0|  3|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 71  19 195  .267| 67|  2  17| 11| 87| 2 13  3|  1
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.5
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  22  5  56  .304   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  4  TEAM RECORDS
   2   8  6  37  .054   BYU Cougars......... 29 21 38 22  5-6
   3  25  3  62  .355   Texas A&M........... 31 30 36 30  8-1
   4  16  5  40  .275
    Texas A&M              |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
 ## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1  Price, Carol........  4|  9   1  31  .258|  4|  2   3|  0| 15| 0  1  0|  1
 4  Munsch, Melissa.....  4| 24   6  65  .277|  0|  1   3|  1| 11| 0  0  2|  0
 8  Beers, Lexy.........  4|  1   2   7 -.143| 56|  4   2|  0| 11| 0  2  0|  1
 12 Pulaski, Tara.......  4| 12   2  28  .357|  1|  0   1|  0|  5| 0  0  0|  0
 22 Jones, Laura........  4| 16   6  42  .238|  0|  4   3|  1| 10| 0  0  0|  0
 25 Achilefu, A.D.......  4| 15   2  25  .520|  2|  0   2|  0| 19| 0  3  1|  0
 11 Wynalda, Rebecca....  4|  0   0   1  .000|  2|  0   0|  0| 16| 0  0  0|  0
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals..............  4| 77  19 199  .291| 65| 11  14|  2| 87| 0  6  3|  2
 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 3.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  20  2  58  .310   Site: College Station, TX (G. Rollie White)
   2  16  5  39  .282   Date: Sep 14, 2002   Attend: 1213   Time: 1:45
   3  24  7  65  .262   Referees: Mary Blalock, Michael Blalock
   4  17  5  37  .324