No. 5 Seed Utah Upsets Fourth-Seeded TCU to Advance to Semifinals of MWC Volleyball Championship

The Utes out-hit the Horned Frogs .270 to .100

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Nov. 22, 2007

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -

2007 MWC Volleyball Championship Home Page

• No. 2 UNLV Advances to Semifinal Round
• No. 8 San Diego State Advances to Quarterfinals with 3-0 Win Over No. 9 Air Force
• No. 3 BYU Defeats Sixth-Seeded New Mexico, 3-2, in MWC Volleyball Championship Quarterfinals

The fifth-seeded Utah Utes served up the first upset of the 2007 Mountain West Conference Volleyball Championship with its 3-0 quarterfinal sweep over the fourth-seeded TCU Horned Frogs Thursday evening at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas. The Utes started strong and kept the pedal down in their 30-15, 30-28, 30-23 victory. The win moves Utah into Friday night's 6:00 pm PST semifinal match to face the winner of the eighth-seeded San Diego State vs. top-seeded and 20th-ranked Colorado State quarterfinal match.

The Utes out-hit the Horned Frogs .270 to .100. Utah jumped out to a quick lead with help from its attackers' 15 kills and .444 hitting efficiency. TCU was hampered in that first frame by its -.120 hitting, as they had 10 errors to only seven kills. The Utes wound up hitting .151 in game two and .314 in the third. TCU righted the ship after the first, but its .122 and .222 in games two and three, respectively, were not enough.

Utah was led offensively by double-digit kill matches from Kate Robison, Lori Baird and Kathryn Haynie. Robison tied for the match-lead in kills with 14, while Baird (12) and Haynie (10) followed. Robison and Baird smashed great hitting efficiency's as they hit .464 and .417, respectively.

Keisha Fisher and Stephanie Shardlow split the setting duties for Utah. Fisher posted 23 assists, while Shardlow dished out 19.

Defensively, Connie Dangerfield was the lone Ute to register double-digits in digs, as she kept 12 TCU attacks alive.

TCU got a team-high 14 kills from LeMeita Smith, as she was one of only three Frogs with healthy hitting numbers. Smith posted a .375 hitting efficiency and was joined by Kourtney Edwards' .333 and Christy Hudson's .375.

Nirelle Hampton assisted on 28 of TCU's 34 assists.

On the defensive end, Calli Corley led TCU in digs with 16 and Devon Kirk blocked seven Ute attacks.