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Volleyball
vs California Baptist
Friday, October 23
Provo, Utah
7:00 PM
University of Utah
3
at
2
BYU
Ute Volleyball Comes Back for Deseret First Duel Win
10/23/2009 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 23, 2009
PROVO, Utah - Junior opposite hitter Karolina Bartkowiak had 16 kills and 11 digs and the University of Utah volleyball team came back from a 2-0 deficit for a five-set Deseret First Duel victory (19-25, 26-28, 25-23, 25-15, 15-6) against BYU Friday at Smith Fieldhouse.
Utah (14-7, 7-2 MWC) has now won 21 of its last 23 Mountain West Conference matches and have won the last four and 12 of the last 15 matchups against BYU since 2003.
BYU put together a 4-0 run to cut its deficit to 15-14 in the fourth set but Utah warded off the rally and closed the set with a 10-1 run of its own to take a commanding 25-15 fourth-set victory.
Before closing the set with a furious rally, Utah crept out to a 4-2 advantage but BYU forced the second tie of the set at seven points each. The Utes then outscored the Cougars, 8-3, to take a 15-10 lead. Utah outhit BYU.290 to -.036 with team blocks even at two apiece.
"I never felt like we were out of the match," Utah head coach Beth Launiere said. "In set one, I thought we played really well and dug a lot of balls. In set two, I thought we shot ourselves in the foot with five missed serves. I felt like that if we just stuck with it that we would win this thing."
There were three ties in the first six points of the fifth set before the Utes grabbed a 6-5 lead and then went on a 9-1 run to clinch the match. Utah hit .273 and held BYU to a negative hitting mark for the second consecutive set, -.037, in the final set while blocks were even at one apiece.
The Utes are now 5-0 in five-set match this season and outhit the Cougars, .190 to .124, but were outblocked 9 to 6.5 in the match.
Utah served nine aces with 15 errors, compared to five aces for BYU with 11 errors.
Bartkowiak came up with double-figures in kills for the 14th time this season and the 28 time in her career. The Aurora, Ill., native secured her eighth double-double of the season, and of her career, by adding 11 digs.
Senior Chelsey Sandberg hit 11 kills on 22 attempts with only two errors in the match for a match-high .409 hitting percentage. This was her fifth double-figure-kill match of the season and sixth of her career. The West Jordan, Utah native also turned in a team-high-tying three blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Hibbert was the third Ute to hit double figures in kills for the 11th time in her career, all coming this season.
Both Utah setters had solid performances, with junior Stephanie Neeley dishing out 28 assists while sophomore Abby Simmons distributed 24 assists. Simmons also chipped in a career-high 14 digs for her fourth double-double this season and the fifth of her career.
Junior libero Keisha Fisher came through with a team-high 18 digs. She reached double-figures in digs for the 15th consecutive match and 20th time this season. The Ririe, Idaho native now has 53 such performances in her career.
There were eight ties early in the first set at the start of the match. Utah gained a two-point edge on three separate occasions before BYU assumed its first lead of the set at 11-10. The Cougars managed to extend their lead to four points at 16-12 and eventually took a five-point lead on a pair of occasions.
BYU ended the set on a 5-2 run to take the set victory by a 25-19 score. Sandberg registered three kills while Bartkowiak and Cinthia Silva both gained a pair of kills in the set. The Cougars managed to outhit the Utes, .243 to .049, and held a 3-0 advantage in blocking during the set.
The Utes improved to 7-6 this season when dropping the first set of a match.
There were a total of 11 ties in the second set, which was a back-and-forth affair as well. with four ties before Utah used a five-point run to jump out to an 11-6 lead. The Utes inched out to a six-point lead three more times with the last being 15-9. The Cougars responded with nine consecutive points to take their first lead of the set and would eventually take a 19-15 lead.
Utah would climb back within a point on two occasions, at 20-19 and 21-20, before forcing the sixth tie of the set at 21 points apiece. The Utes took their third lead late in the first set, at a 23-22 margin, but the set would be tied for an eighth time at 24 and a Hibbert kill gave the Utes their first set-point opportunity at 25-24. Unfortunately, the Cougars came back to tie the set and went on to close the set by taking three of the final four points for a 28-26 second-set victory. The Utes committed six service errors in the set, compare to three for the Cougars.
Bartkowiak hit seven kills in the second set alone to help the Utes outhit the Cougars, .231 to .225. Five different Utah players registered a block apiece to help the Utes outblocked BYU during the set, 2.5 to 2. The Utes improved to 1-4 mark after losing the first two sets of a match.
"We talked about [getting Bartkowiak] more opportunities between sets two and three," Launiere said. "We didn't do anything majorly different except [Bartkowiak] started getting hot, which was key. BYU did a good job of keying on her early in the match, but you can't hold her down for the whole match. That's what makes her a good player. She got hot and that's what started to open up other things. We just couldn't get enough kills in the first and second sets but different people started coming up with key kills."
The Utes took the first three points of the third set and went on take a 4-1 edge early in the set. The Cougars clawed back to within a point at 8-7 and forced the first tie of the set at eight points apiece. The set was tied three more times before Utah was able to outscore BYU 7-4 and inch out to a three-point lead at 18-15.
The Cougars took three of the next four points to cut their deficit to one point at 19-18 and eventually tied the set for the fifth time at 20-20. BYU scored three of the next four points to assume a 23-21 advantage before Utah scored four unanswered points to end the set with a 25-23 win. A key kill by Silva gave Utah match-point at 24-23 then the Utes went on to take a 25-23 victory.
Utah held a .171 to .138 advantage in hitting for the set while blocks were even at one apiece for the set. The victory gave the Utes the Deseret First Duel trophy for women's volleyball for the second consecutive season. The 2009-10 overall competition between Utah and BYU is now even at six points apiece, with BYU claiming a victory in women's soccer and Utah sweeping the women's volleyball season series.
BYU (10-10, 5-4 MWC) was led by Christine Carpenter, who connected on a match-high 17 kills with 10 errors on 57 swings.
The Utes continue their MWC slate Saturday against UNLV. First serve from Crimson Court is set for 1 p.m.
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