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Weekly Volleyball Release: 11/25
No. 2 Hawai'i at No. 24 Utah highlights schedule.
Nov. 25, 2002
Complete Release in PDF Format
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Utah captured its second straight MWC Championship after defeating Wyoming, San Diego State and BYU last weekend. The Utes were the first No. 3 seed to win the tournament. Junior middle blocker Kim Turner won tournament Most Valuable Player honors for the second straight year. NCAA SELECTIONS DEC. 1 Following this week's non-conference slate, the MWC will tune into the NCAA Women's Volleyball Selection Show Sunday, Dec. 1 at approximately 7 p.m. MST on ESPN News. Utah secured the MWC automatic bid this season after capturing the MWC Tournament Championship last week. Last year, Utah earned the league's automatic bid, while BYU, Colorado State and San Diego State earned at-large berths. The past three years, the MWC has had two teams in the NCAA Sweet 16. QUICK HITS (Nov. 25) Air Force -- The Falcons finished the season at 8-22 after falling to Colorado State in three games at the Mountain West Conference Volleyball Championship last week. Sophomore Tiffany Bishop recorded eight kills and a .353 hitting percentage in the match to lead the Falcons. Junior Delavane Diaz recorded a match-high 24 attempts and now has 2,773 in her career, which ranks second all-time in the Mountain West Conference behind former Colorado State All-American Courtney Cox. The Falcons eight wins equaled the win total of the past two seasons combined and the two conference victories snapped a two-year drought for MWC victories. BYU -- BYU became the first No. 4 seed to qualify for the Mountain West Conference Championship finals as the Cougars defeated No. UNLV and No. 1 Colorado State in five-game matches to advance. Junior Karina Puikkonen recorded the highest hitting percentage by a setter in MWC Tournament history with .733 (11-0-15) vs. the Rams. As a team, BYU committed just three hitting errors in its last 49 attempts to close out the victory over CSU. BYU hit above .300 in four of the five games and outblocked CSU 20-3. Carrie Bowers and Laura Nielsen each recorded nine blocks vs. the Rams. In the opening round win, five of six BYU starters recorded 10 or more kills, led by Lindsey Metcalf with 17. Bowers totaled eight blocks vs. UNLV. Allison Larson wrapped up a stellar week with all-tournament team honors after averaging 2.38 kills and 1.0 blocks per game. In the championship match vs. Utah, Larson posted a team-high 10 kills and .421 hitting percentage. The Cougars face No. 2 Hawai`i and No. 12 Arizona this week at Smith Fieldhouse in Provo. Colorado State -- The Rams posted a 3-0 win over Air Force in the quarterfinals of the MWC Championship, but lost to BYU the next day, marking the fourth straight year the MWC regular season champion was unable to win the conference tournament. Sophomore middle blocker Katie Jo Shirley recorded a double-double vs. Air Force with 10 kills and 10 blocks, while freshman Tess Rogers tallied a career-high five blocks vs. the Falcons. Shirley would leave the semifinal match vs. BYU with a shoulder injury. Michelle Knox and Melissa Courtney capped off the week by earning all-tournament honors. Courtney hit .591 for the week with 11.12 assists per game, 14 kills and four blocks. Knox led the Rams with 3.5 kills per game and a .281 hitting percentage. Colorado State hosts Denver Wednesday at Moby Arena. New Mexico -- The Lobos fell to No. 2 seed San Diego State in three games to open the MWC Championship. Junior Anna Reines led the Lobos with 19 kills and a .326 hitting percentage. Reines topped double figure kills for the 18th time this season, including her last six matches. Blaire Burns recorded 11 digs and seven kills vs. the Aztecs. New Mexico will host the Albuturkey Tournament this week. The Lobos take on Butler, Rice and No. 21 UCLA. San Diego State -- The Aztecs entered the MWC Championship with its highest seed since the formation of the league in 1999 and advanced to the semifinal round before falling to No. 3 seed Utah in three games. In the opening round, SDSU defeated New Mexico in three games, marking the first three-game quarterfinal match for the Aztecs in MWC Tournament history (SDSU played five games each of the past three years in the first round). Junior Aspen McPartland posted a match-high .458 hitting percentage with 13 kills. McPartland recorded her third straight double-double and 16th of the year by adding 17 digs to her 13 kills vs. UNM. An all-tournament team selection, McPartland recorded another double-double in the semifinals vs. Utah with 13 kills and 12 digs, while hitting .346. The Aztecs travel to UC Riverside Tuesday for their final regular season match. UNLV -- The Rebels were a No. 5 seed for the second straight year, and again their opening round match went five games as UNLV lost a close one to BYU. Last year, the Rebels upset SDSU in the first round. Blair Wilkes led four Rebels in double figure kills with 20. Wilkes also hit .548 and registered four blocks. Patricia Assuncao and Leiana Oswald each recorded double-doubles vs. the Cougars. The Rebels fell to 0-6 in five-game matches this season with the loss to BYU. The Rebels host the Thanksgiving Classic this weekend, which includes Arizona State, Oral Roberts and Weber State. Utah -- Utah is on a four-match win streak after posting a 3-0 record en route to its second straight MWC Tournament Championship. The Utes are the first to repeat as conference tournament champions and the first to win the tournament by sweeping three straight opponents. Utah defeated Wyoming in three games in the quarterfinals, San Diego State in three games in the semifinals, and BYU in three straight in the championship. Junior Kim Turner earned tournament MVP honors for the second straight year after hitting .342 and averaging 4.33 kills and 2.00 blocks per game. Turner recorded 11 kills and six blocks vs. Wyoming, 12 kills and nine blocks vs. SDSU and closed out the tournament with 16 kills and three blocks vs. BYU. Sophomore Kelsie Kartchner was the designated all-tournament setter after averaging 13.56 assists and 2.44 digs. She also had a tournament-high seven aces. Junior Jackie Morrill was the all-tournament defensive specialist with 4.56 digs per game. Senior Sylva Strzinková also earned all-tournament team accolades after averaging 3.38 kills and 2.88 digs per game. The Utes host No. 2 Hawai`i and No. 12 Arizona this week. Wyoming -- The Cowgirls lost to No. 3 seed and eventual MWC Tournament champion Utah in three games last week to open the tournament. Wyoming nearly stole game one before Utah rallied for a 32-30 win. Junior Michele Rauter recorded a match-high 14 kills to go with 10 digs, marking her league-leading 19th double-double of the season. Rauter is one of only five MWC student-athletes to top 1,000 career kills and currently ranks fifth with 1,034. Rauter also moved into second place on the MWC all-time digs list with 837, trailing only Utah's Alisa Geddes (974). Head coach Jim Barnes became the third Wyoming coach to lead the Cowgirls to 20 wins in his inaugural season (Jim Stone, 1979; Gerry Gregory, 1983). GRAND ATTENDANCE BYU became the third MWC team to top 2,000 fans for a single match this season after totaling 2,194 at Smith Fieldhouse for the Utah match. Wyoming reached 2,231 at Arena Auditorium for the Colorado State match Oct. 25, while CSU topped 2,000 twice this season (vs. Long Beach State Sept. 5 and vs. Utah Oct. 19). Five of the eight MWC teams reached the 1,000-mark for attendance in a single match this year. Colorado State (19) and Wyoming (23) are ranked in the nation's top 25 for attendance this season. 20 WIN SEASONS
This year, for the first time in league history, four teams reached 20 wins. Utah notched its seventh straight 20-win campaign, while Wyoming reached 20 wins for the first time since 1989. San Diego State reached its first 20-win campaign since 1996, and Colorado State posted 20 wins for the eighth straight season. BYU, Colorado State and Utah notched 20 victories each of the first three years in the MWC and qualified for NCAA Tournament play.
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