Personal
Parents are Veikko and Sirkka Puikkonen ... sister Nina was a three-time All-American on BYU's volleyball team (1997-2001) who has since trained with the U.S. National Women's Volleyball team and played professionally in Finland (2003) after completing her college career in 2001 ... including a redshirt year, Karina and Nina were teammates for three years.
Before BYU
Club: Played on the Utah Juniors Club team for Tom Petersen and Jean Widdison ... played three years with Cougar teammate April Varner ... her club team placed first regionally when she was a 16-, 17- and 18-year-old ... earned all-region honors in 1996-97 and 1998-99.
High School - (1995-1998): Earned both academic all-state and athletic all-state in 1998 ... was the two-time MVP of her high school volleyball team ... was named all-region in 1997 and 1998 ... also a member of her high school yearbook staff ... was a Rotary Club Top-10 student at Murray High.
Summary
Karina is one of the Cougars' most complete and seasoned players ... She has the most experience of any returner on this year's team ... She was named to the All-MWC team as a freshman and sophomore and already ranks fifth on BYU's all-time assist list with 2, 723 assists ... She is second on BYU's career list with a 12.67 assist per game average ... She is an intelligent setter with good athleticism who hit a team-best .400 in 2001, the fourth-best single-season percentage in school history ... With nice size, she is a good blocker, can attack well and plays good defense.
Stats
CAREER MATCH HIGHS
Assists: 69 at Wyoming, 10/19/02
Kills: 11 (four times) at Colorado State, 11/22/02; at Wyoming, 10/19/02;
at San Diego State, 9/27/02; at Texas A&M, 9/14/02;
Hitting Percentage: .800 (thrice)
Digs: 15 at Texas A&M, 9/14/02
Blocks: 10 at Utah State, 10/8/02
Aces: 3 (four times)
YEAR-BY-YEAR STATISTICS
Year MP-GP K E A Pct. Ast. SA SE RE Dig BS BA TB BE BHE
2000 33-111 135 45 310 .290 1407 27 36 1 176 8 101 109 10 24
2001 29-104 156 36 300 .400 1316 16 21 1 196 12 81 93 12 24
2002 33-124 190 59 397 .330 1311 25 36 2 204 12 115 127 11 26
Total 95-339 481 140 1007 .339 4034 68 93 4 576 32 297 329 33 74