The seeds held on Day 1 of the Western Athletic Conference tournament with No. 4 Cal State Bakersfield topping No. 5 seed Seattle U in a sweep and No. 3 Utah Valley topping No. 6 UMKC 3-1.
Day 1 Scores
Cal State Bakersfield def. Seattle U 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-17)
Utah Valley def. UMKC 3-1 (24-26, 25-22, 25-20, 25-20)
CSU Bakersfield 3, Seattle U 0
- Bakersfield moves to 17-13 and advances to WAC semifinals; Seattle U ends the season at 11-17
- Box Score
- Bakersfield Recap / Seattle U Recap
Key Stats: Seattle U hit just .078 in the match, committing 21 hitting errors, nine thanks to Cal State Bakersfield blocks. The Roadrunners bested the Redhawks 34-29 in kills, .165 to .078 in hitting, 10-6 in aces and 9-6 in blocks in the victory.
Key Players: Senior outside Aleksandra Djordjevic notched a 10-kill, 10-dig double-double to pace the Roadrunners. Junior outside Briannah Mariner and junior right side Mattison DeGarmo turned in six kills apiece, while redshirt senior middle Haylee Roberts put up four blocks. Freshman outside Desiree Sukhov, senior setter Fabiana Andrade and senior libero Emily Lopes each served up three aces.
Junior middle Maja Stojanovic and sophomore outside Katarina Marinkovic tallied seven kills apiece for the Redhawks, while also adding four and three blocks respectively. Freshman libero Tijana Milojevic pulled up a match-high 19 digs, while freshman outside Anna Palmer and redshirt freshman outside Rachel Stark served up two aces apiece.
It Was Over When: Bakersfield jumped out to a 7-1 lead in Set 3, and Seattle U never recovered, pulling within three on three occasions, last at 11-8, but never broke through. A 5-0 run, including a pair of DeGarmo kills and a Lopes ace pushed the advantage to eight. A Mariner putaway eventually capped the sweep at 25-17.
Next Up: The Roadrunners will play No. 1 seed New Mexico State at 7:30 p.m. ET Friday in the first WAC semifinal.
Utah Valley 3, UMKC 1
- Utah Valley moves to 15-15 and advances to the WAC semifinals; UMKC ends the season at 9-19
- Box Score
- Utah Valley Recap / UMKC Recap
Key Stats: Utah Valley used 17 blocks to hold down the UMKC offense in a four-set quarterfinal win on Thursday. The Wolverines outdid the Kangaroos 17-9 in blocks, 53-47 in kills, and outhit them .191 to .099. UMKC outserved Utah Valley 5-1.
Key Players: Senior middle Madison Dennison was an all-around threat for Utah Valley, accounting for a match-high 17 kills, hitting at a .500 clip and adding a match-best seven blocks and five digs. Senior outside Lexi Thompson also aided the Wolverine cause with 13 kills, 10 digs and three blocks. Freshman libero Seren Merrill pulled up 19 digs to lead a group of four players in double digits. Senior middle Brighton Taylor and sophomore right side Izzie Hinton added in six blocks apiece.
Sophomore outside Alicia Harrington turned in a 15-kill, 10-dig double-double for the Roos, while sophomore middle Mykal Sadler chipped in 11 putaways. Sophomore middle Alexia Morey put up six blocks to lead the team at the net, while redshirt freshman outside Alex Ratzlaff managed 18 digs to pace four double-digit efforts in the backcourt.
It Was Over When: After a tie at 16, Utah Valley broke free with a final 9-4 run. Dennison accounted for four of those points with two blocks and two kills. Three UMKC miscues also aided the rally. A kill by Megan Boudreaux and a hitting error finished off the 25-20 win and the match.
Next Up: Utah Valley will play No. 2 seed Texas-Rio Grande Valley at 10 p.m. ET in Friday’s second semifinal match.
Utah Valley celebration vs. UMKC – WAC Tournament
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