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University of Utah
3
vs
1
Wyoming
Utah Volleyball Gains 3-1 Win Over Wyoming
9/23/2010 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 23, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY - The University of Utah volleyball team received offensive contributions from many sources as four Utes had at least 10 kills in a 3-1 win over Wyoming (26-28, 25-15, 25-20, 25-19) Thursday in the Mountain West Conference season opener at Crimson Court.
Utah (6-7, 1-0 MWC) outhit Wyoming .298 to .218 in the match and the Utes outblocked the Cowgirls, 9 to 6.5.
"We had a very low percentage of error on the attack throughout the match," Utah head coach Beth Launiere said. "That is great for us across the board. Stephanie Neeley did a great job distributing the ball and making good choices. She held the block and put our hitters in one-on-one situations against their block."
The Utes were led offensively by Neeley, who recorded her 22nd career double-double with 49 assists and a career-high 20 digs. The Saugus, Calif., native has eight double-doubles this season and in two of the last three matches.
Morgan Odale, Erin Redd, Karolina Bartkowiak and Sarah Collette hit at least 10 kills for the match. Odale registered a match-high 15, followed by 12 from both Redd and Collette then 11 by Bartkowiak.
Bartkowiak now has 911 career kills and is 89 shy of becoming the 12th member of Utah's 1,000-kill club. She also added 12 digs to ensure her 17th career double-double, which was her fifth this season.
Odale reached double-digits in kills for the 11th time this season while registering a career-high .333 hitting percentage. She also came up with seven digs.
Redd had 12 kills on just 20 swings for a team-high .550 hitting percentage and only one error. She also had three blocks and a dig.
Collette reached double-figure kills for the fifth time this season and she also pitched in three digs and a pair of blocks.
Fisher recorded 19 digs in her back row spot in the Ute defense and her double-digit-dig match streak was extended to 15 straight. She now has 72 double-figure-dig performances in her career and has led or tied for team-high honors in 10 matches this season. Fisher now has 1,306 career digs, which is 232 shy of the school record. At the net defensively for the Utes, Danielle Killpack collected a match-high five blocks, followed by four from Bartkowiak. Killpack also contributed eight kills to the Ute offense.
The first set was tied at two points apiece before Utah scored three of the next four points to edge out to a 5-3 lead. Unfortunately, Wyoming scored five consecutive points to assume an 8-5 advantage. The Cowgirls never led by more than three points before the Utes put together a 5-2 run to take the lead back at 15-14 and would inch out to a two-point lead later in the set (18-16). Wyoming would come back to tie the set for the seventh and eighth times at the 20 and 21-point mark. UW would then regain the lead at 22-21 and would work to take a 24-23 lead.
Utah would fight off set-point four times but eventually lost the opener, 26-28. Odale had six kills in the first set and Neeley had eight digs. The Utes were outhit .412 to .283 by the Cowgirls in the set.
Utah is 1-4 in sets that go into extra points this season, but the Utes did go on to improve to 3-5 this year when dropping the first set.
"We were playing aggressively, but we couldn't stop them," Launiere said. "They hit over .400 [in the first set]. What we did in the next three sets was more important. We got them down to a .218 hitting percentage. In every set, we played better defense and that was the key. Our serves were very tough and that was very important, too."
Utah jumped out to a 10-3 margin at the outset of the second frame en route to a 25-15 second-set win. The Utes led by as many as 14 points (20-6) during the set and were led by three blocks by Killpack while Bartkowiak put down five kills in the set alone while Fisher and Neeley were credited with five digs apiece. Utah outblocked UW 5-0 in the set and held Wyoming to a .000 hitting percentage while registering a .400 clip themselves.
With the third set tied at five, Utah went on an 8-1 spurt to assume a 13-6 lead. Wyoming then responded with four consecutive points to climb within three points (13-10). UW cut the lead to two points on a pair of occasions but Utah came away with a 25-20 victory in the third set. Utah managed to outhit Wyoming .243 to .176 in the frame, while Odale had four kills in the frame and Fisher turned up seven digs.
The fourth set was tied at five points apiece before Utah inched out in front with back-to-back points. The Utes would lead by as many as seven, 21-14, on the way to a 25-19 win to clinch the match.
Wyoming (14-2, 0-1 MWC) had four players hit 10 or more digs as well, including a team-high 13 by Jodi Purdy.
The Utes continue their MWC slate Sunday against No. 18 Colorado State. First serve from Crimson Court is set for 2 p.m. MT.
"Every match is big and they all mean a lot," Launiere said. "We've had so many battles with Colorado State that I don't even think about their ranking. We like playing them because we've had some really fun matches."
The match will be televised live on CBS College Sports with Brent Stover (play-by-play) and Anne Marie Anderson (color analyst) on the call. Everyone in attendance on Sunday will have a chance to Win A Pair of Utah/TCU Football Tickets!
Players Mentioned
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