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The University of Utah Athletics
Utah Volleyball Notes
11/21/2005 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 21, 2005
Complete Post Season Guide in PDF Format
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This Week - The No. 3-seeded University of Utah volleyball team (19-8 overall) ventures into the postseason with the Mountain West Conference Tournament this week. The eight-match, single-elimination tournament will be held in Las Vegas at the Cox Pavilion. Action begins on Tuesday, Nov. 22, with the play-in game for the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds. Play continues with quarterfinals on Thursday, Nov. 24, when the Utes play No. 6 Wyoming (12-15) at 11 a.m. The semifinals are on Friday, Nov. 25, and the championship is on Saturday, Nov. 26. Below is the full tournament schedule:
Tuesday, Nov. 22
No. 9 Air Force vs. No. 8 TCU, 7 p.m.
Thursday Nov. 24
No. 6 Wyoming vs. No. 3 Utah, 11 a.m. (CSTV/Live Web casting*)
No. 7 New Mexico vs. No. 2 CSU, 1:30 p.m. (CSTV/Live Web casting*)
Winner of No. 8/No. 9 vs. No. 1 BYU, 4 p.m. (CSTV/Live Web casting*)
No. 5 San Diego State vs. No. 4 UNLV, 7 p.m. (CSTV/Live Web casting*)
Friday, Nov. 25
Semifinal #1, 5 p.m. (CSTV/Live Web casting*)
Semifinal #2, 8 p.m. (CSTV/Live Web casting*)
Saturday, Nov. 26
Championship, 8 p.m. (CSTV/Live Web casting*)
*Web casting available on the tournament homepage at www.themwc.com
Quoting Head Coach Beth Launiere:
On The Season - "Looking at the regular season, to finish with 19 wins and third in the Mountain West, I think it was a big success for us. We experienced ups and downs along the way. However, that's to be expected with such a young team. But, as a whole, the regular season was very successful for us."
On The Tournament - "The Mountain West Conference Tournament is an exciting event. Everyone is playing for the championship and the league's automatic bid to the NCAAs. However, we have our work cut out for us and we need to take this one match at a time. Our first match is against Wyoming. They are playing very well right now and played a very tough match against us two weeks ago. It's going to be a tough tournament."
Diggin' Up Some Dirt -The Utes put up 103 digs in the five-game win over UNLV last weekend. The two rivals combined for 207 digs in the match. The 103 digs was by far the most that Utah has posted in a single match this season. The next-best effort was an 83-dig effort in the four-game win over Missouri State (9/10/05). The last time Utah put 100 digs on the stat sheet was in last year's five-game upset victory over No. 6 UCLA (9/17/04).
Four Score and.... -While Utah tallied 103 digs in the win over UNLV, the bulk of the effort came from four different Utes. The foursome of Danielle Leichliter, Shelly Sommerfeldt, Airial Salvo and Shannon Krug accounted for 84 percent of the team's digs that night. A libero, Leichliter tallied a career- and match-high 28, both Sommerfeldt and Salvo had a career-high 20, while Krug had a career-best 19.
20-20 Vision - Shelly Sommerfeldt had a career night in leading Utah to a five-game over UNLV. She tallied 24 kills (on .297 hitting) and 20 digs. Both numbers are career highs for the senior co-captain. It was her fifth 20-kill match this season. She had a pair of 22-kill outings, against Santa Clara (9/17) and New Mexico (9/24), in addition to a 20-kill effort versus both Idaho (9/15) and San Diego State (11/19).
That 70's Show - Setter Shannon Krug dished out a career-high 75 assists in leading Utah to .256 hitting against UNLV. That's an average of 15 assists per game. The 75 assists are the most by an MWC setter this year. She finished the weekend averaging 13.56 assists per game and guiding the team to a .259 hitting percentage. For the year, Krug is averaging 11.59 assists per game while the team is hitting .230. Krug ranks third in the league in assists, and is the second-best freshman setter in the conference.
Weekend Warrior - Shelly Sommerfeldt had a stellar regular season finale in hitting .311 on 106 swings last weekend. She led the team in both kills per game (4.89) and digs per game (3.89). She had back-to-back 20-kill matches in the last two outings and had a 20-dig showing against UNLV. That was followed by a 15-dig outing against SDSU. Sommerfeldt averages 3.52 kills on .230 hitting for the year.
A Grand Total- Shelly Sommerfeldt has racked up 1,180 career kills during her four-year career. She ranks sixth among Utah's career-kills leader and is only one of nine Utes to record 1,000 career kills. She is having one of the best years of her career in averaging 3.52 kills on .230 hitting. Her best year was in 2003. As a sophomore, she netted 3.64 kills on .253 hitting. The all-time kills leader at Utah is Sommerfeldt's former teammate, Kim Turner (1,620).
See Emillie Play - Emillie Toone has been a thorn in side of opposing offenses, tallying five or more total blocks in seven of the last eight matches. During that span, she had four matches with seven-plus blocks and averages 1.72 blocks per game. Last weekend, the 6-7 middle had 14 total blocks in two matches and averaged 1.56 blocks per game.
Back Row Driver - Danielle Leichliter stepped into the libero position midway through the season and has been a solid performer there as of late. She is averaging 4.10 digs per game over the last five matches. That span includes a pair of 20-dig outings and a career-high effort of 28 digs. She has upped her season average to a team-best 3.34 per game and ranks sixth in the league.
Defensive Duo - Emillie Toone and Lori Baird combine to form the first and biggest line of defense for Utah. Toone leads the team with 141 total blocks and a 1.50 blocks-per-game average. Baird is right behind her fellow middle with 128 blocks and a 1.29 per-game average. The duo has paired up to tally 269 total blocks or 73 percent of the team's total blocks. Moreover, the tandem averages 1.39 blocks per game. Toone ranks second in the league in blocks while Baird is fifth.
Two of a Kind - Airial Salvo and Shelly Sommerfeldt are one of the most dangerous offensive duos in the conference. Salvo is the team's top outside hitter in netting 3.24 kills on .244 hitting. Her counterpart, Sommerfeldt, collects 3.52 kills at a .230 clip. The two have combined for 683 of the team's 1599 kills. That's 43 percent of the team's kill production. The tandem combines to hit .237 and averages 44 percent of the team's total attacks.
How the Utes Stack Up - In the Mountain West Conference: Utah is first in both blocks (3.45) and opponents' hitting (.151), third in both hitting (.230) and digs (14.65), fourth in kills (15.08), fifth in assists (13.70) and ninth in aces (1.25).
Shannon Krug is third in assists (11.59); Emillie Toone and Lori Baird are seventh in hitting (.288) while Toone is second in blocks (1.50) and Baird fifth (1.29); Shelly Sommerfeldt is seventh in kills (3.52) and ninth in digs (3.00); and Danielle Leichliter is sixth in digs (3.34).
Team News and Notes: The Utes are 15-4 all-time in Las Vegas. They have won six straight in Vegas and haven't lost since a 3-0 setback to UNLV in the WAC tournament on Nov. 25, 1998 ... SDSU hit .333 versus Utah and was the first team this year to hit .300 against the Utes. It was only the sixth team to hit better than .200 on the season. The Utes are 1-5 when their opponents top the .200 hitting plateau. Santa Clara is the only team to lose to the Utes when hitting better than .200 ... only two teams have out-blocked Utah this season. They were BYU on 9/28 and Colorado State on 11/12 ... Utah is 2-3 against ranked teams this year. It beat No. 17 Santa Clara, 3-2, and No. 12 BYU, 3-0. It lost to No. 20 BYU (3-1), to No. 21 Missouri (3-0) and No. 9 Tennessee (3-0) ... the team is 11-1 at home but 9-7 when it leaves Crimson Court ... Utah is 3-3 in games that go to extra points ... the Utes are 6-2 in three-gamers, 10-3 in four-game matches, and 3-3 in five-game affairs ... looking at Utah's game wins by game, it is 16-11 in game one, 17-10 in each game two and three, 13-6 in game four and 3-3 in the fifth frame ... the Utes began the 2005 season receiving votes in the CSTV/AVCA Coaches Polls. They have received votes in three polls this season ... Utah was picked to finish second in the MWC preseason coaches poll. It received three first-place votes and finished two points behind the preseason favorite, Brigham Young.
Weekend Recap: The Utes split their final two regular season matches as they topped UNLV, 3-2, but dropped a 3-1 decision to San Diego State.
Utah and UNLV combined for 207 digs as Utah's offense out-lasted the Rebel defense in rallying for the five-game win. The Utes hit .256 on the night in recovering from losses in games one and two. Shelly Sommerfeldt led the offense with a career-high 24 kills and had a double-double with a career-high-tying 20 digs. UNLV hit .159 and was out-blocked, 15-7. Emillie Toone and Lori Baird led the way with seven total blocks each while Danielle Leichliter recorded a career- and match-best 28 digs.
The Utes ran into the swift-swinging San Diego State Aztecs as Utah dropped its regular season finale. SDSU hit .333 for the match and saw five of its athletes hit better than .300. Utah hit .265 for the tilt and was led by Sommerfeldt's 20 kills on .333 hitting. Utah held the 13-12 edge in team blocks led by Toone's seven total blocks.
Scouting The League:
Utah went 11-5 in league action this year and finished third in the Mountain West Conference. Below is brief summary of how Utah fared against its conference foes.
Air Force (5-27, 1-15) - The Utes got wins in both matches against the Falcons and own a 17-0 all-time mark against them.
Brigham Young (23-3, 14-2) - Utah went 1-1 against the Cougars. BYU owns the all-time series lead, 54-18.
Colorado State(19-7, 12-4) - The Rams swept the season series and own the all-time series lead, 43-18.
New Mexico (14-13, 6-10) - The Lobos and Utes split the two-match series this year with Utah holding the all-time series lead, 35-27.
San Diego State (16-13, 8-8) - The two rivals went 1-1 in head-to-head action this year. SDSU has won in 17 of the 33 meetings.
TCU (15-17, 3-13) - Utah welcomed TCU into the league with a pair of losses. The Utes are 5-0 against the Horned Frogs.
UNLV (14-14, 10-6) - Utah went 2-0 against the Rebels this year and own the all-time series lead, 20-1.
Wyoming (12-15, 7-9) - The Utes scored a pair of 3-1 wins over the Cowgirls in 2005. Utah owns a 34-23 lead in the all-time series.
At the Helm: Beth Launiere is in her 16th season as Utah's head coach. She has a 318-186 career record. She has led her squad to NCAA Tournament appearances the last seven seasons, including a "Sweet 16" showing in 2001. Following her "Sweet 16" run, 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.
Up Next: The Utes await to see if they receive a bid to play in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament. The selection show will air on Sunday, Nov. 27, live on ESPNews. It will air from 12:30-1:30 p.m. (MST). First-round action is slated for Dec. 1-4 and will be held at yet-to-be-determined sites. Regionals are Dec. 9-10 and will be held at Omaha, Neb., University Park, Penn., Stanford, Calif., and College Station, Texas. The semifinals and finals will be held on Dec. 15-17 in San Antonio, Texas.
Players Mentioned
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