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Volleyball
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Friday, November 19
Fort Collins, Colo.
1:00 PM MT
University of Utah
3
vs
2
UNLV (MWC Tournament)
Volleyball Survives Five-Game Thriller With UNLV
11/19/2004 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 19, 2004
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - UNLV had a 2-1 lead in games and held a 10-7 lead in game five but Utah volleyball's staying power was too much as the No 1-seeded Utes rallied for the 3-2 semifinal win here this afternoon.
Game scores were 30-27, 33-35, 22-30, 30-21 and 15-11. Game two will go down in the MWC record book as the highest scoring game in tournament history. The last was a 34-32 Utah loss to Colorado State in game one of the 2001 championship match. No. 19-ranked Utah improves to 23-4 while UNLV wraps up the season 15-12.
The Utes advance to the tournament finals for the third straight year. The championship match is slated to start at 3 p.m. and will air live on CSTV. Locally, it will be televised on KUED at midnight.
"I was concerned about this match," head coach Beth Launiere said after the match. "UNLV is a solid team. It doesn't make many mistakes and it has gotten better as the season went on.
"I'm not surprised at how this match went. But, I am surprised at how we came out. I thought we were a little shaky, a little nervous at first. But that went away as the match went on.
Both teams set the tournament record for digs (96) as Kelsie Kartchner had a match-best 24 digs and was one shy of the tournament record. She was one of four Utes with double-digit digs. Connie Dangerfield had 19 while Tracy Neumeier and Shelly Sommerfeldt finished with 17 and 14, respectively.
Utah's front-liners were a blocking force as four of them finished with six or more blocks. Amie Toone had a match-best eight, Kartchner and Lyndsey Henderson had seven, and Emillie Toone finished with six. The Utes dominated the net with a 22-9 edge in blocks.
The offense got off to a sluggish start as it only hit .144 for the match and didn't hit better than .150 until the fourth and fifth games. The Utes hit .298 in game four and .250 in game five. Leading the way was Henderson and Sommerfeldt with 17 kills apiece. Danielle Leichliter was the most efficient with a .316 average (8k-2e-19a).
Kartchner and Neumeier tallied a double-double in the win. Kartchner finished with a team-high 33 assists and Neumeier chimed in with 27.
The Rebel offense hit .096 over the five games and were led by Tarin Keith with 17 kills. Nicki King almost had a triple-double with 54 assists and 15 digs. She fell short with eight kills. Brittani Lumsden led UNLV with 21 digs while Lauren Miramontes' five blocks were also a team-best.
 Emillie Toone had six blocks against UNLV.  | |
It was a battle for game one as there were nine ties and seven lead changes. That was until Utah rattled seven straight points to take a 23-16 lead. But, even a 7-0 run wasn't enough to deter a scrappy Rebel squad. UNLV went on an eight-point scoring streak, with Brittani Lumsden serving on seven of those points, to cut into Utah's cushion, 28-27. Kartchner's kill put an end to the UNLV run to make it 29-27 and a UNLV hitting error sealed the victory.
It was a tale of two games in the second frame. UNLV came out storming and controlled most of it as it built a six-point lead on three occasions, the last of which came at 20-14. But, Utah clawed it way back in on the service of Kartchner. Down 23-27, Utah roared back to take a 28-27 lead.
Game two ended in dramatic fashion as Utah had to ward off one Rebel game point (28-29) while UNLV itself stayed alive by beating three Utah game points (31-30, 32-31 and 33-32). Back-to-back Ute hitting errors lifted UNLV to the game-two win.
It was all UNLV in game three. Despite an early Utah lead, the Rebels rallied and took their first lead during a 6-1 run, 10-11. They would never trail again as UNLV stretched it lead with another 6-0 streak, going up 17-28. Kartchner stepped behind the line to serve one last time and cut the Rebel lead to seven, 22-29. Lumsden's game-winning kill bagged the victory for UNLV.
Utah's offense woke up in the game four, hitting a match-best .298.The Utes persevered after it was tied at 18-18. A 6-1 surge gave Utah a 24-19 lead and saw it stretch to as much as eight with the final score of 30-22. Amie Toone's three straight blocks, coupled with a Sommerfeldt kill, wrapped up the victory for Utah.
Things seemed to be going UNLV's way in the final game as it was up 7-10 in the first-to-15-wins setup. Neumeier stepped into to serve and Utah came back to take a 13-10 lead. A Henderson kill made it 14-11 and Danielle Leichliter aced it for the match-winner.
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