#16 Utah and Washington State Meet in Salt Lake City; Nov. 2 Preview

Every day at VolleyMob we will preview several of the most notable and interesting matches in NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball. We will offer an inside look at some of those top matchups each day as we carry along through the 2017 season.

*Note: The VolleyMob Top 25 Power Rankings are utilized for a team’s ranking

*The entire week’s schedule can be seen here.

THE BIG MATCH:

Washington State (14-10, 3-9) at #16 Utah (17-6, 8-4) – 9 pm ET

How to follow: Pac-12 Networks/Live Stats

A Pac-12 showdown highlights a day filled with matches in the west and mountain time zone, as plenty of mid-majors continue action. However, that isn’t the case in this one with a power-five conference getting going on the day.

The road team, Washington State, has struggled more than expected in Pac-12 play, but is hoping its match last week against UCLA that was a ranked, five-set victory will be a turning point. They fell earlier in Pullman to Utah in four sets, but did flex a strong block with 13 team blocks to Utah’s seven. That’s because they hit under .200 and star outside hitter Taylor Mims hit just .018 on 14 kills. Expect more as she is hitting .214 for her career.

The Utes come into this one in a bit of a rut as well, as they have lost three straight matches. They’ll look to get back in the swing of things as they try to cement a spot hosting in the first two NCAA Tournament rounds in the final eight regular season matches. Watch out for National Player of the Year candidate Adora Anae, who logged 20 kills (.234) and 16 digs in the first go-around with Washington State.

OTHER NOTABLE MATCHES:

Pacific (12-11, 7-5) at #9 BYU (21-2, 10-1) – 9 pm ET

How to follow: BYU TV/Live Stats

The Cougars are rested up and ready to rebound after suffering their first West Coast Conference loss to San Diego at home a week ago. That loss makes this all the more important as they look to keep pace at the top, while Pacific can play spoiler as they almost did with San Diego in early October.