BYU Faces Utah
The Cougars gained some ground in the MWC standings after sweeping then-No. 3 Colorado State in
Provo Saturday, but BYU has another tough match this week vs. Utah. The Utes fell to the Rams last
week, but picked up a win over Wyoming to remain a game behind BYU in the standings.
MWC Teams in the NCAA Statistics
Colorado State, BYU and San Diego State were represented in the latest NCAA statistics released
today. SDSU¹s Erin Grady is second in the nation in blocks per game with 1.76, followed by BYU¹s
Nina Puikkonen at No. 3 (1.73 bpg), Colorado State¹s Angela Knopf at No. 8 (1.60 bpg) and BYU¹s
Jackie Bundy tied for No. 13 (1.50 bpg). As a team, BYU is No. 2 in blocking at 3.54 bpg and
Colorado State is No. 14 with 3.13 bpg. The Rams are also No. 4 in the country in hitting percentage
(.312), while BYU is 13th (.275).
Tonga Named MWC Volleyball Player of the Week
Sophomore outside hitter Sunny Tonga from BYU was named the Mountain West Conference Volleyball
Player of the Week, marking the first time she has earned the award.
A native of Allen, Texas, Tonga helped the Cougars to a 2-0 record last week, highlighted by a
three-game upset over No. 3 Colorado State in Provo, Utah, on Saturday (15-1, 15-4, 15-11). She hit
.333 (6k-1e-15a) vs. the Rams, and totaled a career high .679 (20k-1e-28a) hitting percentage in a
four-game victory over Wyoming (13-15, 15-1, 15-5, 15-11). For the week, Tonga hit .558 with 26
kills, 14 digs, seven blocks and a pair of service aces. The 1999 MWC Freshman of the Year, Tonga is
second on the team with 3.22 kills per game and ranks fifth in the conference with a .327 hitting
percentage this season.
This Week¹s Schedule
USA Today/AVCA ranking listed in parenthesis, All times are local, Home team in bold, *notes MWC
matches
November 3 (Friday)
* AIR FORCE at WYOMING, 7 p.m.
* NEW MEXICO at COLORADO STATE (6), 7 p.m.
* UTAH (20) at BYU (14), 7 p.m.
November 4 (Saturday)
* AIR FORCE at COLORADO STATE (6), 7 p.m.
* NEW MEXICO at WYOMING, 7 p.m.
* UNLV at SAN DIEGO STATE, 7 p.m.
Last Week¹s Results
October 24 (Tuesday)
WYOMING def. Denver 15-8, 15-9, 15-8
October 27 (Friday)
* COLORADO STATE (3) def. UTAH (20) 15-7, 15-2, 15-11
* SAN DIEGO STATE def. AIR FORCE 15-3, 15-9, 15-9
* UNLV def. NEW MEXICO 9-15, 15-5, 15-5, 15-12
* BYU (16) def. WYOMING 13-15, 15-1, 15-5, 15-11
October 28 (Saturday)
* BYU (16) def. COLORADO STATE (3) 15-1, 15-4, 15-11
* SAN DIEGO STATE def. NEW MEXICO 15-8, 15-4, 15-17, 15-9
* UNLV def. AIR FORCE 15-8, 15-13, 16-14
* UTAH (20) def. WYOMING 15-3, 15-7, 15-12
Last Week¹s Top Performers
BYU¹s Nina Puikkonen totaled 30 kills in a pair of conference wins last week. Puikkonen, a
two-time Player of the Week this season, has topped double-digit kills in 15 of her last 16 matches.
She now has 1,131 kills in her career and needs 60 to pass Michele Fellows for seventh-place on the
all-time list at BYU.
BYU¹s Jackie Bundy hit a career-high .769 and totaled 10 kills in a win over Wyoming.
Colorado State¹s Courtney Cox totaled 27 kills in two matches last week, including a match-high 16
in a victory over Utah.
SDSU, winners of nine of its last 11 matches, posted its best conference record since 1997 after
sweeping Air Force and New Mexico last week. Amy Hallquist led the Aztecs with 13 kills and 15 digs
in the UNM win, and Nicole Akporiaye racked up a match-high 13 kills in a victory over the Falcons.
SDSU¹s Erin Grady took over first place in the MWC for blocks after totaling nine in a pair of
matches last week. Grady is averaging 1.76 blocks per game. Her 135 block assists this season rank
No. 5 on the SDSU single-season list.
Utah¹s Lenka Urbanova picked up her fifth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 13 digs in
a victory over Wyoming.
Air Force¹s Delavane Diaz and Ana-Maria Ortega each posted double digit kills in back-to-back
matches last week. Ortega led the Falcons with 12 kills vs. San Diego State and 16 vs. UNLV.
Micaela Conley and Jessie Goffard each recorded back-to-back double-doubles for New Mexico last
week. Goffard has a league-best 10 double-doubles this season, while Conley has nine.
UNLV¹s Leiana Oswald, Patricia Assuncao and Amber Graham each notched double-digit kills in a pair
of matches last week as the Rebels posted their first conference sweep of the season with wins over
Air Force and New Mexico. The triplets have each tallied more than 10 kills in three straight
matches. Oswald has a streak of five straight matches with 10 or more kills.
Wyoming¹s Melody Friehauf became the all-time block leader at Wyoming after racking up 19 blocks
in three matches last week. Friehauf has 589 career blocks.
The Rankings
Colorado State slipped to No. 6 and BYU jumped two spots to No. 14 in the USA Today/AVCA Division I
Top 25 Coaches poll after the Cougars upset the Rams last week. Utah remained No. 20. The Rams have
been ranked in the poll 127 weeks since the poll began in 1982 and the Cougars have been ranked 222
weeks. BYU reached its highest ranking in school history at No. 1 on four occasions. Pacific,
Nebraska and Stanford lead the nation with 245 consecutive weeks in the poll.
National Attendance (compiled by Diane Nordstrom of Wisconsin media relations)
Colorado State is eighth in attendance with an average of 1,861 fans per match. BYU is 16th with
1,332 fans per match, and Utah ranks 29th in attendance by averaging 757 fans per match. Hawai`i
leads the nation with an average of 6,901 fans and a whopping 89,711 fans over 13 matches. With the
exception of matches played at Hawai`i, Colorado State and BYU played before the third-largest crowd
in the nation this season Sept. 29 when 5,307 fans packed Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colo.
Coaching Milestones
Utah¹s Beth Launiere needs four wins to reach 200 career victories. Launiere is currently 196-142
in 10 seasons.
San Diego State head coach Mark Warner is approaching 100 career victories. In six seasons, Warner
has a record of 96-79.
Mountain West Conference First
Colorado State¹s upset of No. 1 UCLA in Gainesville, Fla., in week one marks the first victory by
any Mountain West Conference team over a No. 1-ranked opponent. Utah and BYU matched that feat this
season as the Utes and the Cougars each topped then-No. 1 Stanford in week three.
Mountain West Conference Players of the Week:
Sept. 4 - Courtney Cox, Jr., OH, Colorado State
Sept. 11 - Nina Puikkonen, Jr., MB, BYU
Sept. 18 - Delavane Diaz, Fr., OH, Air Force
Sept. 25 - Angela Knopf, Jr., OH, Colorado State
Oct. 2 - Allison Peckham, Jr., S, Colorado State
Oct. 9 - Lucie Turkova, Sr., S, Utah
Oct. 16 - Nina Puikkonen, Jr., MB, BYU
Oct. 23 - Amy Hallquist, Sr., OH, SDSU
Oct. 30 - Sunny Tonga, So., OH, BYU
Record Season
So far this season, 30 records have fallen, including 12 in conference play. See page 5 for a
complete list.
TEAM NOTES
Air Force Falcons (6-16, 0-10 MWC)
Head Coach: Penny Lucas-White
Overall/School Record: 136-176 (10th year)/41-96 (5th year)
The Falcons will look to snap an 11-match losing streak when they travel to Wyoming and Colorado
State this week. Air Force lost home matches to each school earlier this season. The Falcons trail
2-13 in series play vs. the Cowgirls and 2-12 vs. the Rams.
Freshman Delavane Diaz is second in the conference in kills per game (4.16) and digs per game
(3.12). Diaz has reached double-digit kills in her last five matches.
Diaz is just the second freshman to earn MWC Player of the Week honors (Sept. 17).
In both matches last week, BYU hit over .300 as a team. It is the
fourth consecutive match that the Cougars have hit higher than .300
The Cougars held Wyoming and CSU to hitting percentages near .000. Wyoming finished its four-game
match with BYU with a .050 hitting percentage. No. 3 Colorado State, who came into the match hitting
.323 as a team, hit a season-low -.021 against the Cougars.
The Cougars had four players over a .350 hitting percentage last week. Tonga led the team at .558,
followed by Karina Puikkonen (.474), Natalie Whittaker (.400) and Nina Puikkonen (.351).
In the upset victory over Colorado State, junior middle blocker Jackie Bundy finished with 10
kills, six blocks and a career-high .769 hitting percentage.
BYU is the only Mountain West Conference team to defeat Colorado State in the last two seasons.
BYU took the last two regular season meetings from the Rams at Smith Fieldhouse.
BYU will host in-state rival Utah in a conference match Friday in its final home match of the
season. The Cougars have a 13-1 record in the Smith Fieldhouse this season. Utah won the previous
meeting in three games on Oct. 6.
Colorado State Rams (23-2, 9-1 MWC)
Head Coach: Tom Hilbert
Overall/School Record: 278-91 (12th year)/104-19 (4th year)
The Cougars broke the Rams¹ 19-match, 40-game winning streak. Both streaks are school records.
BYU became the first team this season to hit over .300 against the Rams after totaling a .318
percentage Saturday.
Senior Krista Swartzendruber tallied her 700th career dig in game three Saturday at BYU.
Saturday¹s match vs. Air Force will be senior night for the Rams, who will be playing their last
home match of the regular season.
The 15-1 loss to BYU in game one was the worst loss for the Rams since Nov. 21, 1995 against
Loyola Marymount. It was also the first 3-0 loss for CSU since Texas ended the Rams season in 1998.
Junior Angela Knopf has 117 block assists this season, which ties her for ninth on the Colorado
State single-season chart. She needs one more to tie for eighth, and is 38 shy of tying Summer
Jennings
record of 155 from last year.
The Rams are in the midst of a NCAA-leading 40-match home win streak dating back to Arizona¹s
victory over CSU Sept. 6, 1998.
New Mexico Lobos (8-12, 4-6 MWC)
Head Coach: Laurel Brassey Iversen
Overall/School Record: 288-205 (17th year)/same
The Lobos scored a team season high 85 digs against UNLV with four Lobos scoring double figure
digs: Micaela Conley (16), Jessie Goffard (17), Kelly Griffin (13) and Erika Sansoni, who racked up
a career- and team season-high 22 digs.
Three Lobos had double-doubles against UNLV: Micaela Conley (17k-16d), Jessie Goffard (15k-17d)
and Kelly Griffin (47a-13d). Conley (13k-14d) and Goffard (18k-10d) notched double-doubles the next
night vs. Aztecs as well. Goffard leads the MWC with 10 double-doubles this season.
Sansoni tied her career high in service aces with three against SDSU, and freshman Amy Amundson
tied her career-high in block assists with seven against the Aztecs.
San Diego State Aztecs (15-11, 7-4 MWC)
Head Coach: Mark Warner
Overall/School Record: 98-80 (6th year)/same
Sophomore outside hitter Nicole Akporiaye totaled 27 kills in SDSU's two matches last week and had
a hitting percentage of .345.
With 1,066 assists, sophomore Melissa Wright has moved into the No. 9 spot on the SDSU career list
in her first season as an Aztec. The transfer from Washington State needs 12 assists to break into
the single-season top 10.
Senior Erin Grady's total of 135 block assists this season ranks fifth on the San Diego State
single-season list. The single-season school record is 165 set by Kris Morton during in 1985. Grady
would need to average six blocks per match in the next five contests to tie Morton's mark.
San Diego State has won nine of its last 11 matches to improve to 15-11 on the season. SDSU won
only 11 matches overall last season and a total of 16 over the past two years. San Diego State has
surpassed its conference win total (6) of the past two seasons.
With a win over UNLV this week and a New Mexico loss either at Wyoming or Colorado State, SDSU
will assure itself of at least the No. 4 seed at the McLeodUSA MWC Volleyball Championship. Fourth
place in the final MWC standings would be the best conference finish since 1997 for the Aztecs.
The Rebels posted their first weekend conference sweep of the season after wins over New Mexico
and Air Force. UNLV travels for a single match this week at SDSU. The Aztecs lead the series 7-1,
including a three-game win in Las Vegas, Oct. 7.
Patricia Assuncao, Leiana Oswald, Blair Wilkes and Amber Graham each recorded 15 kills vs. Air
Force, marking the first time all season four Rebels tallied double-digit kills in the same match.
Freshman Leiana Oswald has notched double-digit kills in 11 matches this season, including five
straight. Oswald, who set the conference season high for attempts in a three-game match with 61 vs.
SDSU Oct. 7, is No. 7 in the MWC with 3.48 kills per game.
Maria Julia-Goes broke her 1999 season record of 586 assists with 621 in 2000, ranking her fourth
on the all-time season list.
The Utes travel to BYU for a critical MWC match Friday. Utah trails BYU 6-59 in the all-time
series and will look to snap a nine-match losing streak to the Cougars.
Senior Brooke Barton ranks fourth on the Utes all-time service ace list with 120. Barton has a
team-high 23 this season.
Junior McKelle Stilson is fourth on the Utah all-time block list with 336, and third on the block
assist chart with 306.
Utah continues to lead the league in digs at 15.51 per game for conference matches. Overall, Alisa
Geddes leads the Utes with 2.51 digs per game while Lenka Urbanova has a team-high 2.67 digs per
game in MWC matches.
Wyoming Cowgirls (9-18, 1-9 MWC)
Head Coach: Susan Judge
Overall/School Record: 104-114 (7th year)/67-82 (5th year)
Wyoming hosts Air Force and New Mexico this week. The Cowgirls hold a 5-1 lead over the Falcons,
including a win Oct. 7. Wyoming trails the Lobos 20-26 in series play, including a loss Oct. 6.
Senior Jamie Burke recorded her 14th double figure kill match this season with 12 vs. BYU. By
winning game one in Friday¹s match, the Cowgirls snapped a 19-game losing streak to BYU dating back
to 1997.
Senior middle blocker Melody Friehauf is now the all-time block leader at Wyoming with 589. She
totaled 19 blocks in three matches last week, including a season high 11 vs. Denver. Her 142 for the
season is No. 8 on the single season list.
