Personal
Hometown: Murray, Utah ... High School: Murray ... Major: Zoology ... Parents: Veikko and Sirkka Puikkonen ... Family: Younger sister Karina also plays for the Cougars.
Before BYU
High School -- (1993-1996): 1995 and 1996 Murray High MVP ... three-year First Team All-Region ... 1996 Utah Senior All-Star Team and All-State selection Club: All-Region selection on the Utah Junior 18 Elite Red team. Honors: Student Sport Magazine prep All-America ... Volleyball magazine "Fab 50" selection ... 1996 Youth National Team selection and 1997 Youth National Team alternate.
Stats
CAREER MATCH HIGHSKills: 32 vs. Cal Poly, 11/23/01Percentage: .688 (12-16) vs. SJSU, 10/16/98Digs: 20 vs. Cal Poly, 11/23/01Blocks: 14 vs. Hawai'i, 11/28/98Aces: 6 vs. Utah, 11/3/00Assists: 4 vs. Utah, 11/3/00CAREER AVERAGES.349 hitting percentage -- No. 1 all-time3.96 kills per game -- No. 3 all-time1.94 digs per game1.87 blocks per game -- No. 1 all-time0.22 service aces per game0.19 assists per gameYEAR-BY-YEAR STATISTICSYear MP-GP K E A Pct. Ast. SA SE RE Dig BS BA TB BE BHE1998 34-107 340 108 681 .341 17 7 46 7 154 38 194 232 18 21999 33-110 472 133 910 .373 16 22 83 24 218 28 175 203 18 12000 33-113 467 146 898 .357 26 38 68 19 226 24 189 213 11 12001 29-104 441 147 914 .292 23 28 65 20 242 15 150 165 12 1Total 129-434 1720 534 3403 .349 82 95 262 70 840 105 708 813 59 5