Dee Events Center
4400 Harrison Boulevard Ogden UT 84403
OGDEN -- Sophomore setter Karina Puikkonen tossed up a career-best 67 assists Tuesday as BYU defeated Weber State 3-1 at the Dee Events Center. The Cougars earned their fourth straight road win with the 30-25, 27-30, 30-27, 30-22 victory.
BYU (ranked No. 14 by Volleyball magazine and No. 16 by AVCA/USA Today) improved to 16-4 overall with the non-conference win while the Wildcats of the Big Sky Conference fell to 11-11 on the year. The home loss was only the second Weber State setback in nine matches this year at the Dee Events Center.
Puikkonen's 67 assists equaled her career high set last year and is the highest total achieved by a Mountain West Conference setter this season. She also was effective with her own attack, hitting a match-best .455 percentage with seven successful dumps in 11 attempts with only two errors.
The Cougars hit a sizzling .459 in the first game to overpower Weber State despite the Wildcats' impressive .342 offensive attack. When BYU cooled off in game two, hitting .146, Weber State continued to play well and evened the match with an efficient .324 attack percentage for the game. BYU rebounded in game three while holding the Wildcats to a .095 attack and eased to a 30-22 victory in the decisive fourth game.
Nina Puikkonen, who earned MWC Co-Player of the Week honors Monday, posted her 10th double-double of the year, tops this year among MWC players along with Utah's Sylva Strzinkova. She finished with 17 kills and 10 digs and added a team-best six blocks. Four Cougars recorded double-figures kills for the match, led by Sunny Mahe with 20. Jackie Bundy added 14 and Lauren Richards equaled a personal best with 12 kills. Natalie Whittaker had a match-high 13 digs for the Cougars.
Natasha Widdison shared match-high honors with Mahe, totaling 20 kills for the Wildcats. Stephanie Metcalf and Stephanie Kropushek each contributed 11 kills and Kris Hollingsworth had 11 digs for Weber State.
Overall, BYU hit .280 for the match with Weber State maintaining a .215 attack percentage. The win was BYU's 50th straight without a loss in the series against the Wildcats.
BYU now prepares to face No. 6 and unbeaten Colorado State (19-0) in the Smith Fieldhouse Friday. The match begins at 7 p.m. and will be televised on KBYU-TV and BYU-TV.
Volleyball Box ScoreThe Automated ScoreBook
BYU Cougars vs Weber State (Oct 30, 2001 at Ogden, 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|POINTS
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2 WHITTAKER, Natalie.. 4| 6 1 17 .294| 2| 1 1| 0| 13| 1 1 0| 0| 8.5
5 PUIKKONEN, Karina... 4| 7 2 11 .455| 67| 1 1| 0| 7| 0 1 0| 0| 8.5
9 PUIKKONEN, Nina..... 4| 17 9 34 .235| 2| 2 1| 0| 10| 1 5 0| 0| 22.5
10 BUNDY, Jackie....... 4| 14 4 29 .345| 2| 0 1| 0| 8| 1 0 0| 1| 15.0
12 CRABBE, Uila........ 4| 0 1 1-1.000| 1| 0 2| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
15 MAHE, Sunny......... 4| 20 9 40 .275| 1| 1 1| 0| 7| 0 1 0| 0| 21.5
11 RICHARDS, Lauren.... 4| 12 6 25 .240| 0| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 2 0| 0| 13.0
17 MAHAFFEY, Michelle.. 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
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Totals.............. 4| 76 32 157 .280| 75| 5 7| 0| 52| 3 10 0| 1| 89.0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 8.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 20 3 37 .459 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 TEAM RECORDS
2 18 12 41 .146 BYU Cougars......... 30 27 30 30 16-4, MWC 8-2
3 18 7 34 .324 Weber State......... 25 30 27 22 11-11, BSC 7-4
4 20 10 45 .222
Weber State | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS
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1 Natasha Widdison.... 4| 20 9 39 .282| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 6 0| 0| 23.0
5 Stephanie Metcalf... 4| 11 6 31 .161| 0| 0 1| 1| 7| 0 1 0| 0| 11.5
6 Kris Hollingsworth.. 4| 8 3 20 .250| 2| 0 1| 0| 11| 0 3 0| 0| 9.5
7 Laura Robinson...... 4| 0 1 1-1.000| 33| 0 0| 0| 2| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
9 Holly Montano....... 4| 8 4 21 .190| 1| 0 2| 4| 6| 0 1 0| 0| 8.5
11 Stephanie Kropushek. 4| 11 2 26 .346| 0| 0 0| 0| 9| 0 4 0| 0| 13.0
8 Shannon Downey...... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
10 Becky Montague...... 4| 2 1 5 .200| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 1 0| 0| 2.5
13 Penny Weston........ 1| 0 1 1-1.000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0
14 Michelle Smith...... 4| 3 3 12 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 1 2 0| 0| 5.0
15 Lacey Rice.......... 4| 1 0 2 .500| 22| 0 1| 0| 3| 0 0 0| 1| 1.0
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Totals.............. 4| 64 30 158 .215| 58| 0 5| 5| 40| 1 18 0| 1| 74.0
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 20 7 38 .342 Site: Ogden, Utah (Dee Events Center)
2 15 4 34 .324 Date: Oct 30, 2001 Attend: 487 Time: 1:49
3 16 12 42 .095 Referees: Tana Beall-Martin, Ann Fruechte
4 13 7 44 .136
PROVO -- Looking for its fourth straight road win, BYU's 16th ranked women's volleyball team faces Weber State Tuesday in Ogden at 7 p.m.
The Cougars enter the match 15-4 overall while the Wildcats have an 11-10 record. Weber State is 7-1 in the Dee Evens Center this year. This will be the 50th meeting in a series BYU has dominated. The Cougars are a perfect 49-0 against the Wildcats, including a 20-0 mark in Ogden.
Two of BYU's four losses this year have come against in-state opponents Utah and Utah State. The Aggies defeated BYU in Provo for the first time since 1979 and Utah achieved back-to-back home wins over BYU for the first time since the 1980 and 1981 seasons. BYU split the season series with Utah this year, defeating the Utes in Provo.
Weber State lost at Utah on Oct. 16 in its first in-state match this season.
BYU returns home to face No. 6 Colorado State Friday and Wyoming Saturday in Mountain West Conference play.
