MATCH NOTES
- #10 Utah def. #18 UCLA 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-21, 25-19)
- Utah moves to 17-3 overall, 8-1 Pac 12
- UCLA drops to 12-6 overall, 5-4 Pac 12
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Attendance: 3,179
- Box Score
- VolleyMob Top 25 Power Rankings (Week 9)
The #10 Utah Utes topped the #18 UCLA Bruins in four sets to extend their conference winning streak to six matches, their longest since entering the league in 2011.
Utah was led defensively by sophomore libero Brianna Doehrmann, who registered a career-high 30 digs. As a team, the Utes recorded 90 total digs. Three Utes registered double-doubles: freshman outside Kenzie Koerber (12 kills, 14 digs), senior outside Adora Anae (17 kills, 16 digs), and sophomore setter Bailey Choi (47 assists, 19 digs). Junior middle Berkeley Oblad added 14 kills, hitting at a team-best .393 clip.
For the Bruins, freshman outside Jenny Mosser notched 15 kills to pace the offense, while senior setter Sarah Sponcil dished out 36 assists and sophomore Savvy Simo added 18 digs.
In the first frame, Koerber’s five kills and Doehrmann’s 12 digs helped Utah win 25-20. The second set went to the Bruins, with UCLA scoring five of the last six points to take the set 25-22.
The Utes won the third set 25-21 to regain the momentum, with Anae recording six of her 17 kills in that frame alone. The fourth was all Utah, ending 25-19 on Oblad’s 14th kill of the match.
The Bruins travel to Colorado (RV) for a Saturday match against the Buffaloes, while Utah hosts #13 USC on Sunday, hoping to extend their Pac 12 winning streak to seven straight matches.
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Courtesy: Utah Athletics
Doehrmann’s Career-High 30 Digs Lead #12 Utes to Win Over #13 Bruins
Kenzie Koerber notches first-career double-double in the victory
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah sophomore Brianna Doehrmann tallied a career-high 30 digs to help lead the No. 12-ranked Utah Utes (17-3, 8-1) to a four-set win (25-20, 22-25, 25-21, 25-19) over No. 13-ranked UCLA (12-6, 5-4) Friday evening at the Huntsman Center.
Utah took the first set 25-20 behind Kenzie Koerber‘s set-leading five kills and 12 digs from Doehrmann. The Utes opened the set with an 8-3 run, which forced UCLA to call timeout, and the Bruins responded winning 12 of the next 21 points to get within two points. That led to a Utah timeout and UCLA would win the next point out of the break, but Utah countered with an 8-4 run to end the frame.
UCLA outhit the Utes .367 to .250 on the way to taking the second set, 25-22. Utah opened the frame winning five of the first six points and led throughout the majority of frame until the Bruins tied the set at 17-all. After trading the next few points, UCLA would close out the set with a 5-1 run to take the frame by three points.
The third set would go back-and-forth between the two teams until finally the Utes rattled off a 4-1 run to take a 15-13 lead into the media timeout. UCLA countered with back-to-back points to notch things up 15-all, but the Utes came back to win five of the next seven points to take a 20-17 lead. UCLA would get back within two points, down 22-20, but back-to-back kills from Koerber pushed Utah’s lead to 24-20 and forced the Bruins to call timeout. UCLA won the next point, but Carly Trueman connected on her sixth kill of the match to give the home team the a 25-21 win and a 2-1 advantage in the match.
Adora Anae tallied six of her 17 kills in the fourth set and Utah cruised to a 25-19 win to take the match. The Utes hit just .080 as a team in the frame, but limited the Bruins to hitting at a negative clip of -.020. The Utes opened the frame with four straight points and later followed with a 5-1 run to push its lead to 10-3, forcing UCLA to call timeout. After going up 16-9, the Utes yielded four straight points to the Bruins, but Anae would get the home team back into it with a block and back-to-back kills. Berkeley Oblad would later finish off the Bruins with a kill, giving Utah the set, 25-19, and the match 3-1.
The Utes are back in action at the Huntsman Center on Sunday, hosting No. 19-ranked USC. First serve is set for 1 p.m. MT.
GAME NOTES
· Utah moved to 4-19 all-time with its win over UCLA on Friday. The victory snapped a four-match losing streak to the Bruins. It was Utah’s first win over UCLA since 2014.
· Friday’s win stretched Utah’s current Pac-12 Conference winning streak to six straight matches; Utah’s longest conference winning streak since joining the league.
· The six-match conference winning streak is the longest since the Utes won seven straight matches as a member of the Mountain West Conference back in 2008.
· The announced attendance of 3,179 is the second-largest crowd on record to view a Utah Volleyball match inside the Huntsman Center. It is also just the third time since playing inside the Huntsman Center that a crowd of 3,000+ was on hand.
· Along with Doehrmann’s career-high 30 digs, the Utes would go on to record a season-high 90 digs as a team.
· Anae led the way with 17 kills for the Utes and she added 16 digs for her 10th double-double of the season.
· Bailey Choy tallied 47 assists and a career-high 19 digs for her ninth double-double of the season.
· Koerber registered career-highs in both kills (12) and digs (14) for the first double-double of her career.
· Oblad finished with 14 kills and a team-high .393 hitting percentage.
· Tawnee Luafalemana totaled a team-high five blocks in the match.
Courtesy: UCLA Athletics
#13 Bruins Drop Four-Setter to #12 Utah
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Junior Zana Muno surpassed the 20-dig mark for her fourth match in a row, posting 23, while senior Reily Buechler tied for the team lead with her eighth double-double (13 kills, 13 digs), but the 13th-ranked Bruins dropped a four-set decision at #12 Utah on Friday at the Jon M. Huntsman Center. Set scores were 20-25, 25-22, 21-25, 19-25.
Freshman Jenny Mosser led the Bruins (12-6, 5-4 Pac-12) with 15 kills to go with six digs and sophomore Savvy Simo recorded 18 digs. Senior Sarah Sponcil had 36 assists and six digs, sophomore Madeleine Gates added seven kills and five blocks and freshman Sabrina Smith notched five kills. The Bruins hit .130 for the match.
The Bruins only held a brief lead in the opening set at 3-2, as the Utes scored the next six and went on to take the first. Utah’s largest advantage was six on a few occasions. At 17-12, the Bruins closed to within one thanks to four in a row on a Utah service error, kills by Mosser and Gates and a Buechler ace. But the Utes netted the next three and would win the opener 25-20. Mosser led the Bruins with six kills, Simo added eight digs and Buechler and Muno each posted five digs. UCLA was out-hit .306 to .167.
UCLA didn’t lead until late in the second set, but would score five of the last six to even things up heading into intermission. The Bruins fell behind early 4-0, but kept their deficit at no more than four. At 14-11, a 6-3 run evened the score, as Buechler had two kills, Simo and Sponcil recorded aces and Gates and junior Kyra Rogers each tallied kills. After ties at each point from 17 through 21, UCLA took its first lead at 22-21. The final 5-1 run came on a kill and ace by Buechler, a Mosser kill and two Utah errors to give the Bruins a 25-22 win. Buechler paced UCLA with seven kills in the second, while Gates and Mosser each had three. Muno added four digs. The Bruins out-hit the Utes .367 to .250.
The Bruins’ largest lead of set three was a pair on a couple of occasions. The third featured 13 ties and five lead changes. Trailing 10-9, the Bruins scored three of four on a Rogers ace and two Utah errors to go up 12-11. But that would be UCLA’s last edge, as Utah scored the next three and didn’t trail for the rest of the set, despite a few more ties, as the Utes won the third 25-21. Mosser had four kills, Muno added seven digs and Buechler and Simo each posted five digs. UCLA was out-hit .293 to .088.
Utah (17-3, 8-1 Pac-12) led wire-to-wire in set four to finish off the victory, scoring the first four of the set and never seeing its lead dip below three, as the Utes claimed the set 25-19. Muno had seven digs. The Bruins were out-hit .080 to -.020.
The Bruins are back in action on Saturday at Colorado at 6 p.m. PT. The match will be televised on Pac-12 Network Mountain and the Pac-12 Now App.
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