MATCH RESULTS
- #25 Utah def. Utah Valley 3-1, (25-17, 19-25, 25-16, 25-21)
- Utah improves to 8-3, Utah Valley falls to 8-5
- Salt Lake City
- Attendance: 2,512
- Match Stats
- Utah Recap / Utah Valley Recap
SALT LAKE CITY–The Utah Utes pulled off the win over the Utah Valley Wolverines in a non-conference match-up on Friday night in the Huntsman Center. This was the final non-conference match of the season for both teams.
A late run gave the Utes the advantage to take set one 25-17. Set two was more of the same, but in favor of the Wolverines, 25-19. Serving was key for Utah in set three, as they had four aces in the set, and would claim it 25-16. Utah was able to close out the match in set four at 25-21. They hit .291 in the match while holding Utah Valley to a .221 clip.
Utah led in nearly every statistical category in the match – kills (66-44), assists (61-42), aces (7-5), and digs (60-47). The Wolverines out-blocked Utah, 11-5.
Lauga Gauta led the Utes to the win with 20 kills on 44 swings with 11 errors for a .205 hitting clip and 12 digs for a double-double, while Dani Drews added in another 11 kills on 25 swings with six errors to end the night with a .200 hitting performance. Lauren Sproule made her presence known with eight kills and zero errors for a 1.000 clip.
Bailey Choy produced 38 assists and six digs while Brianna Doehrmann picked up eight digs in the back-court.
For the Wolverines, Kazna Tarawhiti put away 16 kills on a .217 clip and Kristen Allred added 15 more while Madi Wardle dished out 67 assists and collected 10 digs for a double-double.
The Utes will travel to Boulder to take on Colorado in their first Pac-12 match of the season.
RECAPS
Courtesy of Utah Athletics
SALT LAKE CITY – No. 24 Utah closed out its non-conference schedule by defeating Utah Valley 3-1 on Friday, September 14 in the Huntsman Center.
Lauren Sproule had a career night having eight kills and hitting 1.000 in the match. Lauga Gauta led the team with 20 kills and 12 digs.
The first set was tight early, but the Utes used a 5-1 run to take a 17-13 advantage forcing Utah Valley to take a timeout. The Utes continued to surge pushing their lead to eight and closing out the opening set 25-17. Gauta was huge finishing the set with nine kills hitting .385.
The second set was similar to the first, but this time Utah Valley went on a 5-1 run take a 16-11 lead. The Utes used a timeout, but UVU stretched their lead out a little more. Utah tried to make a late run, but the Wolverines evened the match up 1-1.
Utah’s serving took the third set over as they had four aces in the set. Their big run was led by Kennedi Evans, who had two aces in three points and guided the Utes on a quick 4-1 run. In all, the Utes went on a 12-2 run to take a huge lead in the third and close it out 25-16.
The Utes built a 12-7 lead in the fourth, but UVU responded to come back and tie the match at 14. Utah settled down though and won five of the next six points to get the lead back and went on to close out the match with a 25-21 victory in the fourth set.
Dani Drews also had double-digit kills for the Utes with 11. Overall, the 66 total kills in the match were spread out as seven Utah players had at least five kills. The team hit .291.
Utah finishes its non-conference season at 8-3 and now will turn its attention to Pac-12 play. Their first match will be Wednesday, September 19 at 7 p.m. against Colorado in Boulder, Colorado.
Courtesy of Utah Valley Athletics
SALT LAKE CITY—Madie Wardle tallied a 16-assist, 10-dig double-double to lead the Utah Valley University volleyball team in a 3-1 (17-25, 25-19, 16-25, 21-25) road loss to 24th-ranked Utah on Friday night at the Huntsman Center.
The loss drops Utah Valley to 8-5 on the season, while Utah improves to 8-3 on the season.
“As coaches, you always want your team to do it just a little better and tonight was that way,” said Utah Valley head coach Sam Atoa. “We found ourselves in some great challenging situations where we could have done just a little better. We were right there. Utah is a good team. This game allowed us to just keep getting better in road games and in our conference, it will come down to how you play on the road. I’m pleased with our effort in the preseason but we’re not satisfied. There are some things we’ve done really well and some things we’re going to keep improving on and getting better at. We’re excited to get into WAC play and be at home in our own gym next week.”
Wardle was impressive over the four sets, tallying 16 assists and 10 digs for her third double-double of the season. Kazna Tarawhiti led the Wolverines with 16 kills on 46 attacks for a .217 hitting mark. The freshman outside hitter also tallied five digs and two blocks.
Kristen Allred also reached double figure kills with 15. Allred recorded her 15 kills on 32 attacks for a hitting percentage of .406—her second-best mark of the season. The sophomore outside hitter also totaled seven digs, one block and an ace. Seren Merrill led UVU with a match-high 15 digs. Jasmin Niutupuivaha led the Wolverines with seven blocks.
As a team, UVU posted 44 kills on 131 total attacks for a .221 hitting mark. Utah tallied 66 kills on 141 attacks for a .291 hitting percentage. The Wolverines had 15 attack errors to Utah’s 25. UVU out-blocked the Utes, 11-5.
The first set of the match produced five ties and stayed within just two points until Utah used a 6-1 run to take a 21-15 lead that it would use to secure a 25-17 win in set number one. Leading by just two points, 13-11 in set number two, Utah Valley went on a an 8-3 run to go ahead by six points, 21-15. The Wolverines allowed Utah just four more points as UVU closed out the set with a 25-19 victory. Utah secured the win with victories in both the third and fourth sets, winning 25-16 in set number three and 25-21 in a closely contested fourth set.
The match against Utah was UVU’s final non-conference match of the season. The Wolverines begin Western Athletic Conference play at home on Thursday, Sept. 20 against Chicago State. Opening serve is set for 6 p.m. The Wolverines will then welcome UMKC to Lockhart Arena on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 1 p.m.
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