PROVO -- BYU junior Nina Puikkonen earned tournament MVP honors as she led the Cougars to a 15-17, 12-15, 15-13, 15-1, 15-6 win over No. 2 Long Beach State in the final match of the BYU Mizuno Classic Saturday at the Smith Fieldhouse. The win improves the Cougars to 6-1 overall and gives them their second win over a ranked team in as many nights. BYU knocked off top-ranked Stanford in four games Friday.
Puikkonen, the 1999 Mountain West Conference Player of the Year, finished the match by tying her career-high with 25 kills and setting a career-high with four service aces. She also had a .537 hitting percentage and tied a season-high with 12 digs.
"Nina had a career night," BYU coach Elaine Michaelis said. "(Long Beach State junior) Cheryl Weaver is a first-team All-American and if you compare them tonight, Nina certainly showed what kind of player she is."
While Weaver showed why she is an All-American (14 kills, seven digs and 8 blocks) Puikkonen proved her All-American credentials and led a BYU team that hit .318. Sophomore Sunny Tonga, also a member of the all-tournament team, recorded a career-high 21 kills with a .487 hitting percentage. Junior Jackie Bundy, the other all-tournament selection for the Cougars, had 13 kills, nine digs and four blocks.
Despite leading 14-10 in game one, the Cougars dropped two tough games to start the match. But BYU went into the break with memories of an earlier match this season when Notre Dame came back from a 2-0 BYU lead to hand the Cougars their only loss of the year.
"This was just the same as the Notre Dame match, just the reverse," Michaelis said. "We learned from the experience we had against them and talked about what they did against us. We just wanted to come out and play well and get better on every play."
And get better they did.
The Cougars won the next match 15-13 thanks to strong serving and better passing. The win gave BYU the momentum and the Cougars overwhelmed Long Beach State the next game 15-1. That led to the 15-6 final in the fifth game that gave the Cougars their first victory over the 49ers since 1986. It also marked the first time since 1991 Long Beach State has lost a match after leading 2-0.
"I didn't know how good we could be," Michaelis said, after handing Long Beach State its only loss of the season. "This week was huge for us. The win over Stanford gave us the confidence we needed to take this match."
The win over the 49ers was the second of the day for the Cougars. BYU defeated Fairfield 15-9, 15-4, 15-3 in the opening match of the day. Puikkonen also led the Cougars in that match with 17 kills. BYU will next travel to Utah State on Tuesday.
Stanford defeats Oral Roberts 3-0 in BYU Mizuno Classic
PROVO, Utah -- Top-ranked Stanford defeated Oral Roberts 15-4, 15-6, 15-8 Saturday at the BYU Mizuno Classic being played at the Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah. With the win, Stanford improved to 5-2 on the year while Oral Roberts fell to 1-7.
The Cardinal played 11 athletes during the three-game match while resting many starters during the final game. Stanford was led by Jennifer Harvey and Sara Sandrick, who each tallied 11 kills. Harvey added a match-high seven blocks. Kristin Meyerson of Oral Roberts led the Golden Eagles with 15 kills. For the match, Stanford hit .313 while holding Oral Roberts to a .072 attack percentage.
2000 BYU Mizuno Classic All-Tournament Team
Nina Puikkonen, BYU, Middle Blocker (MVP)
Sunny Tonga, BYU, Rightside Hitter
Jackie Bundy, BYU, Middle Blocker
Brittany Hochevar, Long Beach State, Setter
Cheryl Weaver, Long Beach State, Middle Blocker
Sara Sandrick, Stanford, Outside Hitter
Joanne Saunders, Fairfield, Outside Hitter
Volleyball Box Score
No. 2 Long Beach St. vs BYU Cougars (Sep 09, 2000 at BYU PROVO UTAH)
No. 2 Long Beach St. | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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6 HOCHEVAR, Brittany.. 5| 4 1 17 .176| 56| 4 4| 0| 7| 0 9 1| 1
13 CONNOR, Sarah....... 5| 11 12 39 -.026| 1| 2 3| 2| 11| 0 0 0| 0
16 HANEEF, Tayyiba..... 5| 16 5 41 .268| 1| 0 4| 2| 10| 0 1 1| 1
20 OHTA, Melissa....... 5| 0 0 1 .000| 2| 1 0| 3| 5| 0 0 0| 0
26 THOMAS, Elisha...... 5| 15 3 25 .480| 1| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 1| 0
27 WEAVER, Cheryl...... 5| 14 8 37 .162| 1| 0 3| 1| 7| 3 5 2| 0
3 MARQUIS, Mariah..... 2| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
10 NISHIMOTO, Keri..... 5| 0 0 2 .000| 3| 2 2| 3| 8| 0 0 0| 0
24 WEATHERS, Chantae... 4| 11 1 19 .526| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 1 4 0| 0
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Totals.............. 5| 71 30 181 .227| 65| 9 16| 11| 51| 4 19 5| 2
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 13.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 18 6 47 .255 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 5 TEAM RECORDS
2 28 7 54 .389 No. 2 Long Beach St. 17 15 13 1 6 6 - 1
3 20 10 48 .208 BYU Cougars......... 15 12 15 15 15 6 - 1
4 3 6 17 -.176
5 2 1 15 .067
BYU Cougars | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
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5 PUIKKONEN, Karina... 5| 6 3 16 .188| 60| 1 3| 0| 7| 0 6 1| 1
9 PUIKKONEN, Nina..... 5| 25 3 41 .537| 1| 4 3| 1| 12| 0 7 1| 0
10 BUNDY, Jackie....... 5| 13 4 27 .333| 1| 0 2| 1| 9| 1 3 2| 0
12 LAYTON, Melissa..... 2| 2 2 9 .000| 1| 1 3| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0
14 TONGA, Kalani....... 5| 8 8 30 .000| 3| 3 1| 2| 15| 1 3 2| 0
15 TONGA, Sunny........ 5| 21 2 39 .487| 5| 2 5| 2| 5| 0 0 1| 0
2 WHITTAKER, Natalie.. 4| 6 3 14 .214| 3| 0 0| 3| 9| 0 2 0| 0
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Totals.............. 5| 81 25 176 .318| 74| 11 17| 9| 62| 2 21 7| 1
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.5
Game K E TA Pct
1 18 11 50 .140 Site: BYU PROVO UTAH (SMITH FIELDHOUSE BYU)
2 22 6 41 .390 Date: Sep 09, 2000 Attend: 2096 Time: 2H 15
3 19 4 46 .326 Referees: BRUCE GRANT, TERRI JACKSON, KAREN MARSHALL
4 11 1 19 .526 -- BYU def. No.2 LBSU after def. No.1 Stanford Friday
5 11 3 20 .400 -- BYU's Nina Puikkonen named Mizuno Classic MVP
-- Nina Puikkonen equaled career-high 25 kills