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No. 2 Utah Sweeps No. 3 BYU At MWC Championship
The Utes face the winner of Colorado State vs. San Diego State for the MWC crown.
Nov. 21, 2003
Complete Release/Box Score in PDF Format
SAN DIEGO, Calif. Two-time defending tournament champion Utah made it seven straight MWC Tournament victories with a sweep of No. 3 seed BYU (30-22, 30-23, 30-24) today at the MWC Championship in San Diego. With the win, Utah reached the 20-win mark for the eighth straight season and will advance to the MWC Championship finals for the third straight year. BYU slipped to 21-8 on the year. Utah hit for .252 on the match and held the Cougars to .122. BYU out-blocked the Utes 8-6, but Utah more than doubled the Cougars in kills (56-25). Sophomore Shelly Sommerfeldt led Utah with 18 kills on 26 attempts with just two errors for a season-high .615 hitting percentage. Senior All-America candidate Kim Turner finished with 16 kills, four digs, three blocks and three service aces. Turner now needs just 17 more kills to become the all-time career kills leader at Utah. Setters Kelsie Kartchner and Tracy Neumeier finished with 28 and 26 assists, respectively.
MWC Freshman of the Year Lindsy Hartsock led BYU with a .500 hitting
efficiency (6-1-10) and four blocks, while Kim Wilson added eight kills.
Utah came out strong in game one, scoring the first three points and
quickly jumping out to a five-point lead (8-3). The Cougars used a 3-0
run to cut the Ute lead to two (12-10), but Utah was able to build it
back to six on a Sommerfeldt ace, making it 18-12. The Utes went on to
win it 30-22. Turner had seven kills on the game to lead Utah.
After the Cougars took a 2-0 lead in game two, Utah went on a 7-1 run to make it 7-3. BYU immediately went on a run of its own, outscoring Utah 7-2 to take back the lead, 10-9. After three ties, the Utes began to pull away, leading by as many as eight, 27-19. The Cougars threatened again with a 4-0 run before the Utes scored the final three points for the 30-23 win. Game three started out close, with nine ties early on before Utah pulled away for a 30-24 victory. Utah hit for .213 in game three and held the Cougars to .065.
UP NEXT: Utah advances to the finals of the tournament at 7 p.m. (PT) on Saturday, Nov. 22, where it will face the winner of Colorado State vs. San Diego State. The championship match will air live on Fox Sports Net (RM). MATCH NOTES: With her eighth kill in game two of today's match, Utah senior Kim Turner set the MWC Tournament career record for kills with 137 (2000-2003). Turner finished the match with 16 kills and now has 144 all-time in four MWC Tournaments. Turner also holds the MWC Tournament career record for blocks with 60.
Kim Turner has double figure kills in 16 straight matches after recording 16 today.
Shelly Sommerfeldt has hit over .400 in four straight matches, including today's season high .615 (18-2-26). The 18 kills ties a season high. Sommerfeldt's career high of .625 happened one year ago today vs. Wyoming at last year's MWC Tournament.
Utah stretched its MWC Tournament win streak to 18 straight games over seven matches and have swept five of its last six opponents in MWC Tournaments.
Lauren Richards closed out the MWC Tournament with 10 aces (8 vs. Air Force and 2 vs. Utah).
The Cougars outblocked Utah 8-6, led by MWC Freshman of the Year Lindsy Hartsock with four. Hartsock also led the Cougars with a .500 hitting percentage.
BYU leads the all-time series 61-15 vs. Utah, but the Utes have won eight straight in the series, including today's victory.
BYU's 25 team kills are a season low and the .122 hitting efficiency is the lowest since a loss at Southwest Missouri State Sept. 6, 2003.
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