By Tia Babbel
BYU women”s volleyball team will face instate rival Utah at 7 tonight in a showdown that will help determine seeding for the Mountain West Conference Tournament in two weeks.
The clash will be played at Crimson Court at the University of Utah.
“We”ve got a tough road ahead of us,” BYU head coach Karen Lamb said. “If we can win our last three matches, we”re sure to tie for second, and we don”t want to get into that fourth place spot.”
The third-place Cougars (18-6) are 8-3 in the MWC and stand one game behind the Utes (15-7, 9-2). Utah won the previous meeting between the two teams on Oct. 10, 3-1 in Provo.
BYU is the only team in the MWC to have four players ranked in top 10 hitting percentage: No. 2 Lindsy Hartsock (.373), No. 3 Lexi Brown (.348), No. 5 Laura Nielsen (.310) and No. 10 Carrie Bowers (.298). No other team has more than two.
BYU also continues to use a balanced attack as seven different Cougars have 100-plus kills this season and a seventh has 93. BYU is the only MWC team that has seven players with 93 or more kills this year.
“We have three good outside hitters and if one of them isn”t playing well, we have some one to back them up, which we didn”t have last year,” Lamb said.
Senior All-American candidate Kim Turner, who averages 3.95 kills, 2.25 digs and 1.53 blocks per game, leads the Utes. Shelly Sommerfeldt adds 3.72 kills per game, while Jackie Morrill averages a team-high 3.42 digs per game.
“As the season progresses, each match grows in importance,” Lamb said. “It”s imperative for us to keep getting better, like we have been, and execute on the court. Utah is an experienced and talented team, but our goal is still the same – to win.”
There will be a live webcast of the match available at www.byu cougars.com or www.utah utes.com.
