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Ute Volleyball Preps for Idaho State
6/21/1999 12:00 AM | Volleyball
August 28, 1998
Next Matchup:
Utah Probable Starters No. Name Yr. Pos. 10 Stacie Greenwalt Jr. MB 16 Sara Shakula Sr. OH 12 Kalani Tonga So. OH 2 Graciela Torres Jr. S 4 Jen Snow So. OH 3 McKelle Stilson Fr. MB or 14 Brooke Barton So. DS
COMING UP: Utah opens its 1998 season, hosting Idaho State of the Big Sky Conference on Tuesday (Sept. 1) at 7:00 p.m. at Crimson Court. A
QUICK LOOK AT UTAH: Utah returns five starters and seven letterwinners from last year's team that went 22-9 and placed fourth in the Western Athletic Conference Mountain Division with a 9-5 mark. Headlining the five returning starters are three players who earned all-WAC recognition in 1997. Both 6-0 senior outside hitter Sara Shakula and 6-1 junior middle blocker Stacie Greenwalt were named second-team all-conference. Kalani Tonga, a 6-0 sophomore, was named the WAC Mountain Division Freshman of the Year and earned a spot on the national Volleyball Magazine/Asics All-Freshman Team. Among the changes in this year's line-up, Tonga will move from middle blocker to outside hitter, which will allow her to open up her game. Tonga's new position was held down for the past four years by Brenda Barton-Whicker, Utah's all-time leader in kills, attempts, digs and service aces. The two other returning starters are junior setter Graciela Torres and sophomore outside hitter Jen Snow. Torres ranked ninth in the WAC in assists last season (11.86). Snow was second on the team with an average of 2.38 digs per game. The Utes also add two redshirts from last season. Brooke Barton will give her sophomore season a second go-around. A projected starter last year, Barton tore the ACL in her left knee during pre-season workouts. As a freshman in 1996, the 5-10 Barton was named second-team all-WAC Mountain Division defensive specialist, playing in all 32 matches and 115 games. Another redshirt from last season, 6-1 middle blocker McKelle Stilson, makes her debut in a Utah uniform on Tuesday. The Orangeville, Utah, native was a first-team all-state selection two years in high school.
SCOUTING IDAHO STATE: The Bengals, which, like the Utes, open their season on Tuesday, return four starters and 10 letterwinners from last year's team that went 7-22 overall and tied for eighth place in the Big Sky Conference with a 4-12 record. Senior Alexis Schneider (6-1) anchors the middle after averaging 2.29 kills, 1.36 digs and 0.98 blocks per game last season. Senior 5-11 outside hitter Penny Sneddon posted 2.94 kills, 3.13 digs, 0.52 blocks and 0.31 aces per game last season. Head coach Bill MacLachlan begins his fourth season at ISU with a 40-50 record and a 56-147 career mark in seven seasons.
SERIES SHORTS: Utah leads the all-time series with Idaho State 20-9. The Utes won 15-9, 7-15, 15-3, 15-1 last season on Sept. 16 in Pocatello, Idaho.
FROM THE TRAINING ROOM: Kalani Tonga sustained a rotator cuff injury to her right shoulder last week (likely due to over use) and has taken a cortisone shot. She will be reevaluated before Tuesday's match. Sara Shakula developed a herniated disk in her back last spring, but should not be severely affected by the injury this season.
AFTER THIS: Utah begins its season in earnest next weekend, playing in Washington State's Cougar Challenge, Sept. 4-5 in Pullman, Wash. Utah opens the tournament against Washington State, ranked 22nd in the USA Today/AVCA Top 25 preseason poll, on Friday at 7:00 p.m. (PDT). On Saturday, the Utes face Louisville, which received 12 votes in the preseason poll, at 10:00 a.m. (PDT) and Gonzaga at 5:00 p.m. (PDT).
TOP 25 POLL WATCH: Utah received 34 votes to tie for 36th in the USA Today/AVCA preseason Top 25 poll, which was released on Aug. 11. Two Western Athletic Conference teams are ranked in the Top 25. Brigham Young starts out the season at No. 8 and Hawai'i is 14th. Both teams are in the Pacific Division with the Utes. In addition to Utah, three other WAC teams are in the "receiving votes" category. Colorado State is ranked 26th, Fresno State is tied for 42nd and San Diego State is tied for 46th. Two teams on Utah's non-conference schedule are ranked in the Top 25, with Notre Dame coming in at 16th and Michigan State 17th.
HEAD COACH BETH LAUNIERE: In her ninth season, Beth Launiere is the winningest coach in Utah volleyball history. Launiere has a 137-118 (.537) record overall and a 46-62 mark in Western Athletic Conference play. Launiere was named the Utes' head coach in 1990, and has since overseen a significant transformation in the Ute volleyball program. The season prior to Launiere's appointment, the Utes compiled a meager 1-32 record. Four years later, Launiere guided Utah to a 25-win season, its most successful campaign ever. The Grand Rapids, Mich., native has led the Utes to three 20-win seasons and four upper-division finishes in the Western Athletic Conference during the last five years. Last year, Launiere's Utes posted its all-time best overall winning percentage in school history (.710) by going 22-9, as well as the best winning percentage in WAC play (.643) with a 9-5 mark to place fourth in the WAC Mountain Division. It was Utah's second-consecutive 20-win season and third-consecutive upper division conference finish.
QUOTING LAUNIERE: On fall practice - "I feel really good about where our team is at this point. We were able to come out of two-a-days relatively uninjured, but we do have a couple of nagging injuries. The areas we need work in were definitely obvious, but they were the same areas that we knew we would need work in coming into fall practice. We know where we need to go from here." On the season opener with Idaho State - "Bill (MacLachlan) has done a good job with that program in recent years and has some good recruits that he's brought in. They are tough mentally, and that team just seems to get better every year. We'll be the more physical team, but they can ball control very well. If we can get into our system and ball control with them, we'll be fine."
SHAKULA MOVING UP THE CAREER CHARTS: With what figures to be her biggest season still ahead of her, senior outside hitter Sara Shakula has an excellent chance to finish high in several career statistical categories. The Draper, Utah, native already ranks sixth in career kills (1,005) and seventh in service aces (98) at the U. She needs 51 more kills to take over fifth place, with the top mark owned by Brenda Barton-Whicker (1,565). Barton-Whicker also owns the top aces mark with 161. Shakula needs just 10 more aces to take over third place. Last season, Shakula ranked 19th in the conference in kills with an average of 3.26 per game. She also ranked 20th in the nation and led the WAC with 0.54 aces a game.
TONGA MAKES HER MARK: Sophomore Kalani Tonga, the 1997 Western Athletic Conference Mountain Division Freshman of the Year and a member of the Volleyball Magazine/Asics All-Freshman Team, splashed onto the scene last season. Tonga ranked seventh in the WAC in blocks (1.22) and sixth in hitting percentage (.327) as a middle blocker. She also set the Utah single-season record for hitting percentage.
TORRES FOURTH IN CAREER ASSISTS: Setter Graciela Torres begins her junior season in fourth place in career assists at Utah with 2,297. Torres is closing in on third place, which is currently held by Katie Gesto, who recorded 2,309 assists from 1984-86. In just her first season at the U., Torres recorded 1,206 assists to place her fifth on both the the single-season and career charts. She recorded 1,091 assists in 1997, the sixth-most in a single-season at Utah.
WAC PRE-SEASON POLL: In a survey of the Western Athletic Conference coaches before the season, Utah was picked to place third in the Pacific Division. Utah, competing in the WAC's Pacific Division for the first time in its final season as a league member, garnered 88 points. Brigham Young was picked first, tallying 118 points and 13 first-place votes. Hawai'i claimed the remaining three first-place votes and 105 points to finish second. The Utes were followed by Fresno State in fourth place with 73 points, San Diego State (72), New Mexico (49), San Jose State (37) and UTEP (26). In the Mountain Division, Colorado State earned 13 first-place votes and totaled 117 points to lead the way. Brigham Young was picked to win the WAC championship over Hawai'i, 13 votes to three.
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