Cougars Fall to Utes in Four

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SALT LAKE CITY -- In a decidedly tense affair the BYU women's volleyball team dropped a closely fought 3-1 (30-19, 23-30, 30-24, 30-27) decision to Utah Friday night at Crimson Court. The loss drops the Cougars to 18-7 overall and 8-4 in the Mountain West Conference, while Utah improves to 16-7, 10-2.

"We did some good things, we executed well at times but we just need to be more consistent," BYU coach Karen Lamb said. "We made a lot of errors tonight and we made them at critical times."

The first game started out closely with neither team leading by more than three points, but then Utah went on a 3-0 run, capped by an Amie Toone kill for a 10-6 lead. The Utes then utilized a 6-0 run for a 16-8 lead, which was interrupted by a Kim Turner attack error. Utah immediately went on a 4-0 lead to open a 20-9 lead. Turner collected a game-high five kills in the game. It was an offensive struggle for both teams as BYU and Utah only recorded 11 and 12 kills, respectively.

Game two saw an early Utah swell, but the Cougars turned the tide behind the power of outside hitter Kim Wilson and April Varner who each put down six kills. BYU took a mid-game lead at 14-13 on a Turner attack error and wouldn't relinquish the lead for the duration of the game. The crucial point in the game would come moments later when Wilson and Carrie Bowers recorded kills combined with a Danielle Leichliter service ace that put the Cougars on a 3-0 run and gave them a 19-14 cushion. Varner and Wilson carried BYU down the stretch and the Cougar block put up four blocks in the game to stifle the Ute attack into hitting .120, while BYU hit .357.

The Utes quickly took the lead in the third game and didn't let up. Shelly Sommerfeldt put down two kills and the Cougars made an attack error as Utah led 12-6. The Cougars would make a late push, but Utah held on to take the game.

Game four was a tale of two half's, as each team made decisive runs to try to win the game. BYU came out early and controlled the match with a 3-0 run to start the game. Utah would fight back to tie it at 3-3, but then the Cougars reeled off a 4-0 run capped by a Wilson and Laura Nielsen block on Kelsie Kartchner. The Cougars were all over the floor digging ball after ball, as it stretched its lead to as large as seven at 17-10 and 18-11. Varner provided five kills in the decisive stretch and the Cougars looked to send it to a final game five. Turner pulled momentum back to the Utah side, however, with back-to-back kills that made the game 23-20. Utah made the last half of the game its own, finishing the match on a 10-4 run.

Senior libero Uila Crabbe became the sixth Cougar to record 1,000 career digs in the second game. She totaled a match-high 16 digs.

Varner and Wilson were the only two Cougars with double-digit kills as they put down 16 and 14, respectively.

Kartchner posted a triple-double for the Utes with 25 assists, 12 digs and 11 kills, while hitting .381. Turner recorded a match-high 22 kills.

The Cougars will conclude their MWC schedule on the road next week when they visit UNLV Friday and San Diego State Saturday. The MWC Tournament will be held Nov. 20-22 in San Diego, Calif.

Volleyball Box Score

The Automated ScoreBook

BYU Cougars vs Utah (Nov 07, 2003 at Salt Lake City, Utah)

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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4 TOGO, Melanie....... 4| 0 0 1 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 12| 0 0 0| 0

5 RICHARDS, Lauren.... 4| 5 3 21 .095| 41| 0 1| 0| 11| 0 2 0| 4

6 METCALF, Lindsey.... 3| 0 2 9 -.222| 0| 0 0| 1| 1| 0 0 0| 0

8 BOWERS, Carrie...... 4| 8 2 28 .214| 2| 0 0| 0| 0| 1 4 0| 0

9 BROWN, Lexi......... 1| 1 3 6 -.333| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 1| 0

14 HARTSOCK, Lindsy.... 4| 7 2 18 .278| 0| 0 1| 0| 0| 1 3 2| 0

3 VARNER, April....... 4| 16 1 35 .429| 0| 0 3| 2| 8| 0 1 2| 0

7 WILSON, Kim......... 4| 14 10 43 .093| 0| 0 0| 1| 2| 0 2 1| 0

11 KEARL, Lindsey...... 4| 0 0 0 .000| 2| 0 3| 0| 10| 0 0 0| 0

12 CRABBE, Uila........ 4| 0 1 2 -.500| 2| 0 0| 0| 16| 0 0 0| 0

18 NIELSEN, Laura...... 3| 5 1 9 .444| 1| 0 3| 0| 4| 1 6 2| 0

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Totals.............. 4| 56 25 172 .180| 48| 0 11| 4| 64| 3 18 8| 4

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0

Game K E TA Pct

1 11 11 41 .000 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 TEAM RECORDS

2 17 2 42 .357 BYU Cougars......... 19 30 24 27 18-7 (8-4 MWC)

3 12 5 45 .156 Utah................ 30 23 30 30 16-7 (10-2 MWC)

4 16 7 44 .205

Utah | 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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4 SOMMERFELDT, Shelly. 4| 11 9 43 .047| 0| 0 3| 0| 6| 0 1 1| 0

6 KARTCHNER, Kelsie... 4| 11 3 21 .381| 25| 1 1| 0| 12| 2 2 1| 1

8 NEUMEIER, Tracy..... 4| 0 0 1 .000| 31| 0 3| 0| 13| 0 0 0| 0

9 LEICHLITER, Danielle 4| 10 6 33 .121| 0| 1 4| 0| 9| 0 1 0| 2

15 TURNER, Kim......... 4| 22 3 35 .543| 0| 1 2| 0| 13| 0 4 0| 0

16 HENDERSON, Lyndsey.. 4| 11 5 27 .222| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 2 0| 0

2 MORRILL, Jackie..... 4| 0 0 1 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 13| 0 0 0| 0

3 TOONE, Amie......... 4| 2 0 4 .500| 1| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 2 0| 0

10 KULOVITZ, Carlee.... 1| 0 1 1-1.000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0

14 DANGERFIELD, Connie. 4| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 1 1| 0| 6| 0 0 0| 0

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Totals.............. 4| 67 27 166 .241| 57| 4 14| 0| 74| 2 12 2| 3

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0

Game K E TA Pct

1 12 4 31 .258 Site: Salt Lake City, Utah (Crimson Court)

2 17 11 50 .120 Date: Nov 07, 2003 Attend: 1320 Time: 1:58

3 21 5 45 .356 Referees: Patsy Malta, Annette Cottle, Quinnette Dunn

4 17 7 40 .250