2017 NCAA TOURNAMENT – SALT LAKE CITY POD
- November 30-December 1, 2017
- Round 1
- Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
- Bracket
- Tournament Central
In one of two four-team pods that started on Thursday, chalk ensued. Host Utah swept Cleveland State while Purdue dropped the first set to at-large team High Point before the Boilers righted the ship and defeated the Panthers in four sets.
PURDUE DEF. HIGH POINT, 3-1 (21-25, 25-14, 25-22, 25-12)
- Purdue improves to 23-9; High Point ends their season at 24-8
- Attendance: 1792
- Box score
High Point came out motivated and won the first set, the first set victory for any Big South team in NCAA Tournament history, but ultimately fell to the Boilermakers. Purdue now moves on to Round 2 on Friday evening.
Purdue was led by perennial All-American Danielle Cuttino, who finished with 18 kills and hit .368 with 4 blocks. She was joined in double digits by Sherridan Atkinson, who finished with 11 kills, 6 digs and 4 blocks. Ashley Evans filled the stat sheet once again, with 39 assists, 14 digs, 5 kills and 3 blocks. It was Evans’ 11th double-double of the season. Libero Brooke Peters added 10 digs and posted a match-high-tying 2 aces.
Upstart High Point represented the Big South Conference well. They were led offensively by freshman Katie Doering with 10 kills, hit .381 and added 2 blocks. Haley Barnes added 9 kills, 13 digs and 2 aces in her final match of her career. Setters Jenna Smith had 19 assists and Carly Jimenez dished 12 assists to run the 6-2 offense. Freshman libero Abby Bottomley led all defenders with a match-high 17 digs.
#11 UTAH DEF. CLEVELAND STATE, 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-12)
- Utah improves to 23-9; Cleveland State ends their season at 22-8
- Attendance: 1792
- Box score
#11 seed Utah dispatched Horizon League champion Cleveland State in straight sets on Thursday night, the fourth and last Thursday night match to start the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The Utes dominated almost every category in the match, including hitting percentage (.337-.111), kills (40-34), blocks (9-3), and aces (5-1).
Utah was led by Adora Anae with a match-high 11 kills, hitting .348, with a match-high 13 digs. Setter Bailey Choy ran the efficient offense with 26 assists, 4 digs and 3 kills. The Ute net defense was led by Kenzie Koerber and Tawnee Luafalemana with 5 blocks each.
Cleveland State seemed overwhelmed in the moment, forced to call a timeout at 0-4 of the first set. Offensively, the Vikings were led by Rachel Stover with 7 kills. Alexis Middlebrooks, Gina Kilner and Trinniti Hall contributed 6 kills each to the Viking attack. Kilner also dished out 25 assists and dug 5 balls for CSU. Libero Shannon Grega finished with a team-high 10 digs.
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