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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Volleyball Notes
11/15/2004 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 15, 2004
What's on Tap?
The No. 19-ranked (USA Today/CSTV coaches poll) University of Utah women's volleyball team (21-4, 13-1 Mountain West) enters the Mountain West Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed and begins the three-day postseason event by taking on the No. 8-seeded Air Force Academy on Thursday, Nov. 18. Match time is set for 11 a.m. All eight MWC teams make the single-elimination tournament with every tournament match televised on College Sports Television (CSTV). The tournament, held at Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colo., will be from Nov. 18-20 with the winner snagging the MWC's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament's field of 64. The NCAA tournament begins on Dec. 2 at yet-to-be-determined sites.
Scouting the Opposition:
Air Force (4-20 overall) enters the tournament as the No. 8 seed. The Falcons have lost 16 straight matches and come to the tournament having dropped a 3-1 decision to San Diego State and a 3-0 match to UNLV last weekend. The Falcons have been swept in four out of their last five matches. Leading the way for the Falcons is Kristin Hamlett and Molly White. Hamlett averages 3.28 kills per game while Molly White is hitting .211 on the season. Carly Siefken sets the offense with an average of 10.59 assists per game while Jenalee Burke (2.35 digs) and Hamlett (0.85 blocks) pace the Falcon defense. Penny Lucas-White is in her ninth season at the helm and owns a 69-179 record at the Academy.
Series Records:
Air Force and Utah will toil for the third time this season. Utah snagged victories in the previous meetings, tallying a 3-1 win in Colorado Springs and a three-game sweep in Salt Lake City. The Utes own the all-time series lead over the Falcons, having never dropped a match to them, 14-0. Air Force and Utah have never met in a postseason tournament.
The Utes made short order of the Falcons in the last meeting, sweeping their MWC rival in one hour and 12 minutes. AFA couldn't keep pace with the Utes who hit a smooth .583 (16 kills, 2 errors and 24 attempts) in the first frame. The Falcons stumbled in hitting .000 (8-8-28) in game one. Utah went on to hit .382 for the match and held AFA to a paltry .022. The Utah block stymied the Falcons, 11-3, and was by Lyndsey Henderson's eight. Shelly Sommerfeldt's eight kills led the offense which centered around Tracy Neumeier's 22 assists. Connie Dangerfield's 16 digs led all players as well.
Utah's all-time record versus the remaining MWC teams is as follows: BYU, 17-53; Colorado State, 18-40; New Mexico, 34-26; San Diego State, 15-16; UNLV, 17-1; and Wyoming, 32-23.
Quoting Head Coach Beth Launiere:
On the tournament: "We have a lot of season left and I think that we have put ourselves in a good position for the next month.
"I'm proud that we won the conference title. But, we lost our last match to Colorado State. As a competitor, that doesn't sit well and we need to regain our focus and be ready for the Mountain West Conference tournament this week."
On last weekend: "I think that we need to be better prepared to compete in tightly contested matches. Any time that we lose like we did to see CSU, it's a good opportunity to look back at it and address and fix any issues that occurred."
Last Week:
The Utes went 1-1 in action last week in clinching a share of their first-ever Mountain West Conference regular season championship. The Utes swept Wyoming, 3-0 (30-16, 30-22 and 30-26) but fell to Colorado State in three (26-30, 22-30 and 20-30).
Stalwart defense was the key for Utah as it outblocked the Cowgirls, 13-2, and held its rivals to a .070 hitting percentage. The Utes hit .266 over the three games and were led by Lyndsey Henderson as her 14 kills were one of three in double-digit kills for the evening. Henderson also led everyone with 11 blocks. Tracy Neumeier had 28 assists while Connie Dangerfield led with 22 digs. Kelsie Kartchner tallied 12 kills, 17 assists and 13 digs on the evening.
Colorado State thwarted the Utes with a stellar defensive and serving performance. The Rams outblocked the Utes, 11-7, and held the home team to a meager .105 hitting percentage. CSU also got help from its 10 aces and seven errant Utah serves. CSU hit .203 for the match. Henderson's 10 kills and four blocks led the Utes as did Neumeier's 20 assists and nine digs.
Weekly Stats:
National Rankings: through 10/31, Lyndsey Henderson is sixth in blocks per game (1.73) while the team ranks ninth (3.28). Note: NCAA stats are updated every Tuesday.
Mountain West Individual Stats: Lyndsey Henderson is second in blocks per game (1.79) and in kills (3.76), third in hitting percentage (.373) aces (0.31); Connie Dangerfield is tops in digs (4.29); Tracy Neumeier is fourth in aces (0.31), eighth in both assists (6.57) and 15th in digs (2.21); Amie Toone is fifth in blocks (1.29); Danielle Leichliter is 11th in service aces per game (0.27); Kelsie Kartchner is ninth in assists (6.16) and 19th in hitting (.236); Shelly Sommerfeldt is 14th in kills (3.14).
Mountain West Team Stats: Utah is tops in opponent hitting percentage (.135) and service aces (1.76); second in blocks (3.28) and digs (14.93); fourth in hitting (.242); fifth in kills (15.23) and assists (13.77).
Going At It Alone:
Lyndsey Henderson enters tournament action with 23 block solos on the year, while that leaves her six shy of cracking into the Utah single-season top 10, she isn't far off from etching her name in the MWC annals. Henderson needs only three more solo blocks to catch former teammate and All-American Kim Turner. Turner's 2003 total of 26 ranks fifth in the MWC season record book. Note: MWC records only date back to 1999.
Digging Up The Past:
Connie Dangerfield racked up 29 digs last weekend and now has 390 digs on the season. That moves her into third place on Utah's single-season record book. She is one dig shy of passing one of her former teammates, Jackie Morrill, who scooped up 391 digs in 2003. Utah's single-season dig leader is Julie Kirby who amassed 457 digs in 1993.
A Renaissance Woman:
Kelsie Kartchner did a little bit of everything in the three-game win over Wyoming. She turned in a triple-double performance against the Cowgirls, the first on the season and the third of her career. Kartchner hung 12 kills, 17 assists and 13 digs on UW in accomplishing the coveted feat. The setter/outside hitter was one kill shy of a triple-double the week before, tapping San Diego State for nine kills, 15 assists and 10 digs on Nov. 5.
No Kill For You:
Lyndsey Henderson chalked up an astounding 11 block assists in the three-game win over Wyoming last Friday. Those 11 block assists tied the three-game record at Utah. Going into the season, McKelle Stilson owned the record outright with 11 block assists against San Diego State on Oct. 10, 1998. Henderson's 1.79 blocks per game are second in the conference while her 23 block solos leads all MWC players this season.
It Came Down To A Flip:
The Utes will be the No. 1 seed in the Mountain West Conference tournament for the first time in school history. It came down to a coin flip by the league commissioner since both Colorado State and Utah finished the season with an identical 13-1 conference slate. CSU, who has laid claim to every regular season title since the conference's inception in 1999, will be the No. 2 seed. The Utes have been the No. 3 seed three times and the No. 2 seed twice.
Off Kilter Offense:
CSU posed one of the most frustrating defenses that Utah had seen all year when the two rivals met last Saturday. The Rams held the Utes to a meager .105 hitting percentage. That was the second lowest single-game performance this season. Only Saint Mary's held Utah to a lower efficiency rating at .092. The difference, Utah still beat SMC, 3-1. On the year, the Ute defense has buoyed the team when the offense was sluggish. Utah is 4-2 this season in matches it has hit under .200.
A "D-Cent" Performance:
Utah turned in one of the top defenses among its MWC rivals when looking at its conference only stats from this season. The Utes held MWC foes to a .133 hitting percentage (tops in the conference), averaged 3.32 blocks per game (second) and 14.56 digs (second). Colorado State was one of three conference rivals to hit better than .200 on the Utes. The Rams racked up kills at a .203 clip last Saturday.
Diggin' The Defense:
Connie Dangerfield scooped up a match-best 22 digs against Wyoming. The 22 digs was six short of the three-game record here at Utah. Dangerfield was the top digger in conference matches only, scooping an average of 4.28 digs in MWC tilts. Dangerfield now has five 20-dig performances to her credit, setting a conference record with 33 to help Utah top then-No. 6 UCLA earlier this season.
Potent Notables - Tournament Style:
The Utes check in at No. 19 in the coaches poll, slipping down two spots. The Utes have been in the poll nine straight weeks. No. 14 is the highest ranking yet this season ... Utah has won two conference championships (2000, 2001) and was once the runner-up (2003) ... the Utes are 13-6 all-time in postseason conference tournaments (including WAC and MWC appearances). They are 10-3 in MWC tournament matches only ... the 13 wins and .684 winning percentage are the second best among MWC schools ... last year, Utah was the runner-up, defeating Wyoming (3-0), San Diego State (3-0) and losing to Colorado State (3-1) ... the Utes have won in all five MWC tournament first-round matches ... Utah has a winning record against six of the seven MWC schools in tournament play. Only CSU holds the edge on Utah in tourney action, 1-2 ... only Colorado State (twice) and BYU (once) have beat Utah in the postseason ... head coach Beth Launiere is four wins shy of tallying 300 career victories ... the Utes are 5-2 in extra-point games ... Utah is 9-3 in games settled by two points ... Utah is 10-2 in three-game matches (only Notre Dame and CSU swept the Utes), 9-1 in four-gamers and 2-1 in five-game affairs.
At The Helm:
Beth Launiere is in her 15th season as head coach of the Utah women's volleyball program. She owns a 296-176 all-time record. She has led her squad to NCAA Tournament appearances the last six seasons, including a "Sweet 16" showing in 2001. Following the "Sweet 16" showing, Launiere was named the 2001 Tachikara/AVCA Division I West Region Coach of the Year. Launiere's Utes have recorded nine 20-win seasons, and last year, Utah posted a then-school-record 12 conference victories. A native of Grand Rapids, Mich., Launiere graduated from Aquinas College and was an assistant at Ferris State and Illinois before taking over the Ute program in 1990.
On the Air:
Radio broadcasts and live video streaming of home volleyball games will be available on the Internet at the official athletics Web site, www.UtahUtes.com. All seven MWC tournament (Nov. 18-20) matches will air on College Sports Television (CSTV). Please check local listings for times and station number.
Up Next:
The Utes will return home for a pair of non-conference tilts sandwiched around the Thanksgiving Holiday. Utah hosts No. 3 Hawaii on Wednesday, Nov. 24, and Eastern Washington on Saturday, Nov. 27. Both matches are at Crimson Court and begin at 7 p.m. The NCAA tournament selection show is on Sunday, Nov. 28, and will air live on ESPNews at 5 p.m.
Players Mentioned
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Utah Volleyball's Emrie Moea'i - ESPN+ Feature
Thursday, September 25