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Oct. 27, 2006
SALT LAKE CITY - The No. 9-ranked University of Utah volleyball team (20-2, 11-0 Mountain West) dispensed of the No. 17 Brigham Young Cougars in front a raucous sell-out crowd of 1,100 people, sweeping its in-state rival, 3-0.
With the win, Utah extends its winning streak to a school-record 18 straight matches. BYU falls to 19-3 on the year (9-2 MWC) on scores of 30-24, 30-26 and 30-27.
"I am very pleased with how we played tonight," said head coach Beth Launiere. "I think we gave a consistent effort out there and that we executed our game plan very well.
"What I'm most proud of is our composure. It was a big crowd, a vocal crowd, and we didn't let the atmosphere get to us. I think we responded to the situation very well."
The Utes hit .267 for the match but got a shot in the arm from their serving game tonight. The team tagged the Cougars for nine service aces, six of which came from the service of Airial Salvo. In fact, it was Salvo and freshman setter Sydney Anderson that did all the damage from the baseline. Anderson complimented Salvo's six aces with three of her own.
It wasn't all serving for Utah, though, as Salvo paced the team with 14 kills tonight. She also led all hitters with an eye-popping .444 (14-2-27) hitting percentage. Trailing Salvo were Whitney Webb (13 kills) and Emillie Toone (11 kills).
Anderson ran the offense as she handed out 46 assists. She also had three kills, nine digs and two blocks.
The Utes held the Cougar offense to just .197 hitting as Utah owned the 10.5-7 edge in team blocks. Emillie Toone led the way at the net with a match-high eight blocks. Webb chimed in with five.
From the back, it was Connie Dangerfield who paced the Utes. She tied for match-high honors in recording 15 digs. Salvo nearly had a double-double with nine digs.
BYU hung with Utah at the onset of games one and two. Utah broke a 6-6 tie in game one as it went on a 11-1 run to take a commanding 17-7 lead. The Utes' lead stretched to as much as 13 (29-16) but BYU rattled off eight straight points to cut it down to five, 29-24. A BYU serving error ended the game.
Game two saw BYU take an early 11-9 lead. But, Utah engineered an 8-0 run of its own to take the 17-11 lead. Utah would never lose the lead again but it did see it's seven-point, 26-19 lead dwindle to 27-24 before bagging the win on a Lori Baird kill.
There were a lot of ebbs and flows in the final frame as game three saw Utah jump out to an impressive 5-1 lead. It continued to build on that, owning a 12-6 cushion on 1.000 hitting (6-0-6). But, BYU wasn't going down without a fight. It went on an 11-1 run late in the match to take a four-point, 22-18 lead. Utah managed to claw its way back, tying it at 23-23. Webb's kill gave Utah the 24-23 lead as the Utes never looked back in the game-three victory.
Leading the visitors were Chelsea Goodman (18 kills), Amy Schlauder (38 assists and four blocks) and Annie Pinegar (15 digs).
"I think this match came down to our ability to defend the first ball," BYU coach Jason Watson said. "When our serve-receive was on, we stayed in system and were able to exploit some things. We just didn't do a very good job on the first ball."
"We really got a lot from Chelsea Goodman and Jenna Judkins," Watson said. "Goodman came up big for us in tough situations, and Jenna did a very nice job defensively. Her ability to digs some balls got us into it in the third game."
The first game started out close until Utah went on an 8-0 run to build a 16-7 advantage. The Cougars fought back to within six points twice before the Utes rolled off eight of the next nine points to earn their first game-point opportunity at 29-16.
BYU, however, was not about to surrender the game as a Lott kill started an 8-0 Cougar run that reduced the deficit to five at 29-24. Judkins, who Watson earlier subbed into the game to improve his team's serve-receive and passing, recorded BYU's only ace of the game during the run while keeping Utah off balance from the service line. It wasn't until a Judkins' serve fell beyond the endline that the Utes walked away with the game.
Goodman put down five kills in game one without an error to hit .455, while Emillie Toone was the dominant attacker for the Utes in the first game with six kills and only one error.
The second game played out in similar fashion as Utah gained the momentum with an 8-0 run that turned an 11-9 BYU lead into a seven-point Ute advantage. BYU then cut the deficit to five at 21-16 before Utah pushed its margin to nine at 26-17. The Cougars recorded nine of the next 12 scores to cut the lead to three at 29-26, but Utah received the winning point on an over call on the BYU block that required an officials conference to make sure the call was correct.
Utah took early control of the third game with a 6-1 start on the way to a 17-11 lead. But the Cougars responded with eight straight points during an 11-1 scoring run to build a 22-18 lead. The run was full of exciting plays that brought the many BYU fans in attendance to their feet. BYU claimed the lead at 18-17 after a long rally that had nearly every player on the floor keeping the ball alive before Lindsy Hartsock put down the kill. The next point, the eighth straight in the run, came after BYU defensive specialist Janvier Beaumont kicked in desperation to keep the ball off the floor, sending it to the Utah side of the net before the Utes hit it wide.
After a Utah score, Goodman provided the next three points to give BYU the four-point lead. Goodman used the block on an attack and then had her tip find the court before putting up a solo block to stop a Ute attempt.
Unfortunately for BYU, the Utes had another big run in their bag, outscoring the Cougars 12-5 on the strength of a 7-1 spurt to seal the 30-27 game-three win.
Utah was led by Airial Salvo's 14 kills, while Whitney Webb contributed 13 and Toone added 11. Utah hit .267 on the night while BYU attacked at a .197 clip.
Tonight's match was all Utah had on the docket this weekend. It returns to action when it goes to TCU and New Mexico on Nov. 3-4, respectively.
BYU stays on the road for its next conference match at New Mexico on Nov. 3.
