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Volleyball on the Road this Week
6/21/1999 12:00 AM | Volleyball
September 15, 1998
Up Next
Event: Michigan State Invitational
Date: Friday & Saturday, Sept. 18-19
Location: Jenison Field House East Lansing, Mich.
Utes' Overall Record: 6-2 WAC Record: 0-0
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
THIS WEEK: Utah (6-2) plays in the Michigan State Invitational, Friday and Saturday at Jenison Field House in East Lansing, Mich. The Utes open up the tournament against the host Spartans (4-1), ranked 16th in the USA Today/AVCA Top 25 Poll released on Sept. 7, on Friday at 7:00 p.m. (EDT). On Saturday, Utah faces No. 18 Notre Dame (2-3) at 10:00 a.m. (EDT) and New Hampshire (3-5) at 5:00 p.m.
A QUICK LOOK AT UTAH: The Utes defeated Idaho at home and won two out of three matches at the Weber State Classic last week to improve to 6-2 on the season. Utah is ranked 34th, receiving 10 votes, in the USA Today/AVCA Poll released on Sept. 7.
Utah returns five starters and seven letterwinners from last years 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.
Greenwalt leads the team in blocks (1.17) and hitting percentage (.357), and is second in kills (3.87). Tonga is the team leader in kills (3.90) and digs (3.23). Setter Graciela Torres is averaging 13.30 assists per game and Brooke Barton is averaging a team-best 0.73 service aces.
AFTER THIS: Utah will have a chance to catch its breath after playing 11 matches during the first three weeks of the season. The Utes play just one match next week, hosting Wyoming on Friday at 7:00 p.m. at Crimson Court. Since the Cowgirls are in the Mountain Division of the Western Athletic Conference and Utah is in the Pacific Division this season, the match will not count toward the teams conference records.
SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE: The Spartans of the Big Ten Conference, ranked 16th in the USA Today/AVCA Poll released on Sept. 7, are 4-1. Last weekend, MSU suffered a five-game loss at Louisville on Friday and defeated Murray State in four games in Louisville, Ky., on Saturday. Senior outside hitter Jeanna Wrobel is leading the team in kills (5.00) and digs (2.58). Jenny Whitehead is averaging 3.20 kills and 1.14 blocks per game. Sophomore setter Christie Landry is averaging 11.67 assists. Head coach Chuck Erbe has a 113-60 record in his sixth season at MSU and a 523-181 career mark in 18 seasons.
SCOUTING NOTRE DAME: The Fighting Irish of the Big East Conference dropped two matches at Wisconsins Inntower Invitational last weekend in Madison, Wis., to fall to 2-3. Notre Dame, ranked No. 18 in the USA Today/AVCA Poll released on Sept. 7, was swept by No. 8 Wisconsin and lost to Indiana in five games. Senior middle blocker Lindsay Treadwell leads the team in kills (2.47) and digs (2.79). Christi Girton is averaging 2.44 kills and 2.11 digs. Jo Jameyson leads Notre Dame in blocks (1.65). Head coach Debbie Brown has a 192-61 record in her eighth season with the Fighting Irish and a 309-144 career mark in 13 seasons.
SCOUTING NEW HAMPSHIRE: The Wildcats of the America East Conference are 3-5 after splitting four matches last week. New Hampshire swept Holy Cross at home on Tuesday. In a tournament hosted by Brown last weekend in Providence, R.I., UNH was swept by Brown on Friday. On Saturday, it lost to Rhode Island in four games and swept Colgate. Sophomore outside hitter Jillian Ross leads the team in kills (3.39) and is averaging 2.58 digs. Senior outside hitter Cari Sander is averaging 3.00 kills per game and leads the team with 2.91 digs. Head coach Jill Hirschinger is 32-41 in her third year at UNH and has a 441-282 career mark in 20 seasons.
SERIES SHORTS: Utah won its only match against Michigan State, defeating the Spartans 2-0 on Nov. 2, 1979 in Los Angeles, Calif. The Utes lost their only meeting with Notre Dame, falling in three games on Sept. 6 last year in Spokane, Wash. Utah and New Hampshire meet for the first time on Saturday.
IDAHO MATCH REVIEW: Utah bounced back from dropping the first game to take the next three from Idaho to post its fourth win of the season last Wednesday night at Crimson Court. The Utes were out hit by the Vandals in the first game .488 to .208, and as a result lost 15- 12. Utah then went on to out hit Idaho for the match .247 to .210, winning the next three games 15-3, 15-11, 16-14. Kalani Tonga posted a match-high 17 kills to go with four digs to lead Utah. Freshman McKelle Stilson had 15 kills, three blocks and an impressive .500 hitting percentage. Stacie Greenwalt also had 15 kills and four blocks. Sara Shakula contributed 14 kills, six digs and three blocks. Graciela Torres posted 51 assists and eight digs.
WEBER STATE CLASSIC REVIEW: Utah won two of its three matches at the Weber State Volleyball Classic, played last Friday and Saturday in Ogden, Utah. After suffering a disheartening three-game loss to Cal Poly-SLO in the opener, the Utes bounced back to sweep Weber State on Friday night and Gonzaga on Saturday. Utah swept Gonzaga 15-4, 15-0, 15-4, led by another outstanding match from Stacie Greenwalt. The junior middle blocker posted a match-high 10 kills, four blocks and a .421 hitting percentage. Kalani Tonga was solid as well with seven kills, a .400 hitting percentage and seven digs. Brooke Barton had five kills and Graciela Torres posted 27 assists. Utah out hit the Bulldogs .346 to -.054 and had an 8-1 advantage in blocks.
On Friday, the Utes opened up with a 15-10, 15-9, 15-9 loss to Cal Poly SLO. Utah was out blocked 20-4 and out hit .298 to .058. The one bright spot was Greenwalt's performance of 14 kills and a .480 hitting percentage.
The Utes bounced back with a 15-12, 15-11, 15-10 sweep of Weber State. Tonga's 15 kills, 17 digs and .353 hitting percentage led three Utes with 10 or more kills. Greenwalt had 12 kills and Sara Shakula posted 10. Torres had 49 assists and hit .571 with nine kills and nine digs.
HEAD COACH BETH LAUNIERE: In her ninth season, Beth Launiere is the winningest coach in Utah volleyball history. Launiere has a 143-120 (.544) 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 Launieres 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, Launieres 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 Utahs second-consecutive 20-win season and third-consecutive upper division conference finish.
QUOTING LAUNIERE: On the Idaho match - We didn't come out really focused in the first game, and I think that was because we had such a tough (previous) weekend on the road. But, once we settled down we were fine. Our serving made the difference. When they were in system they were very good offensively. When we were able to disrupt them with our serving, that's when we were successful. That was a good win for us.
On the Weber State tournament - That match was a complete, 100 percent breakdown (against Cal Pol SLO). We were totally unprepared against a team that was extremely prepared. Part of that is my fault, part of that is the fact that we're banged up and we've been playing a lot of matches; but the other part is that a performance like that is not O.K. under any circumstance. We need to learn from that.
We had a much better effort against Weber State, but we were still too up and down. We need some practice time to work on some things and get some of our discipline back.
I can't remember the last time that we shutout a team in a game like that (against Gonzaga. We needed a match like that where we just dominated someone. Everyone got a chance to play and we had a lot of fun.
On this week - Im so happy that we dont have a mid-week match this week because we need to get in some practice time. We havent been consistent enough and have had some little disciplinary things break down. This will be a good tournament this weekend, and Im excited to take a team back to Michigan, my home state, for the first time. Michigan State and Notre Dame are very good teams that have been ranked, and New Hampshire has a good program also. Weve got a chance, once again, to get a win against a Top 25 team. So, Im happy to have that opportunity.
SHAKULA MOVING UP THE CAREER CHARTS: With what figures to be her biggest season in front 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 fifth in career kills (1,078) and seventh in service aces (105) at the U. She needs 17 more kills to take over fourth place and 32 to take over third 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 three 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 THIRD IN CAREER ASSISTS: Setter Graciela Torres is in third place in career assists at Utah with 2,696. Torres moved ahead of Katie Gesto, who recorded 2,309 assists from 1984-86, on Sept. 1 with 67 assists against Idaho State. She now needs 660 assists to take over second place, which is still within reach this season. 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 STATISTICAL RANKINGS:
Team
Hitting Efficiency 11th (.208)
Kills 3rd (17.60)
Assists 5th (15.47)
Blocking 6th (2.63)
Aces 3rd (2.27)
Digs 4th (16.40)
Individuals
Hitting Efficiency Stacie Greenwalt 10th (.357) Kills Kalani Tonga 11th (3.90)
Stacie Greenwalt 12th (3.87)
Assists Graciela Torres 5th (13.30)
Blocking McKelle Stilson 9th (1.26)
Stacie Greenwalt 13th (1.17)
Aces Brooke Barton 1st (0.73)
Graciela Torres 7th (0.50)
Kalani Tonga 13th (0.43)
Digs Kalani Tonga 7th (3.23)
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE: Once again, Utah faces challenging opposition in 1998. Five teams on its scheduletwo if which it will play twicewere invited to play in the 1997 NCAA Tournament. Washington State, which defeated Utah in four games on Sept. 4, made it to the regional semifinals. The Utes will face two more NCAA participants at the Michigan State Invitational this weekend. The host Spartans made advanced to the second round, while Notre Dame made it to regional semifinals.
Utah faces two NCAA Tournament teams, twice each, during the Western Athletic Conference season. Hawaii received and NCAA bid in 97, but lost in the first round. Brigham Young made it to the regional finals before losing to eventual national runner-up Penn State.
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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