Press Release courtesy of Utah Athletics
Match 22: #12 Utah at #15 Oregon
Wednesday, Oct. 25 | 7 p.m. PT/8 p.m. MT
Eugene, Ore. | Matthew Knight Arena
TV: Pac-12 Networks (Rich Burk, Amy Gant)
Stream: Pac-12 NOW
Live Stats: GoDucks.com
Match 23: #12 Utah at Oregon State
Friday, Oct. 27 | 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT
Corvallis, Ore. | Gill Coliseum
TV: N/A
Stream: OSUBeavers.com
Live Stats: OSUBeavers.com
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW
• Utah will take its five-match road winning streak into the week, with road contests against Oregon and Oregon State this Wednesday and Friday.
- The Utes picked up another top-25 victory against UCLA this past weekend. Utah has now won four contests over opponents ranked in the AVCA Top-25 poll.
- Utah dropped just its fourth match of the season with a five-set loss to No. 19 USCon Sunday. All four of Utah’s losses have come to AVCA Top-25 ranked teams and all four defeats have come in five sets.
- After going 1-1 this past weekend, Utah remained at No. 12 in this week’s AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll. This marks the 19th consecutive week that the Utes have been ranked inside the top 25, which ranks as the second-longest streak for the program.
- Utah sophomore Brianna Doehrmann registered a new career-high with 30 digs in Utah’s match against UCLA last Friday. Doehrmann became the first player to register over 20 kills in a single match, while also becoming the first Ute to total at least 30 digs in a match since 2008.
FIRST SERVE
The No. 12-ranked Utah Utes (17-4, 8-2) will be back on the road this week with a couple of matches through the state of Oregon. The Utes will match-up with the No. 15-ranked Oregon Ducks (13-5, 6-4) at Matthew Knight Arena on Wednesday, Oct. 25 in the Pac-12 Volleyball Match of the Week. Utah will then close out the week on Friday, Oct. 27 taking on the Oregon State Beavers (15-7, 5-5) at Gill Coliseum.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Oregon Ducks
Oregon heads into the second half of conference play on a three-game win streak. The Ducks picked up a pair of wins against the Arizona-based schools last weekend. Oregon opened the weekend’s competition against Arizona and took the match in five sets. The Ducks then finished out the weekend registering a sweep over Arizona State to move to 6-4 in Pac-12 play.
Oregon is led offensively by Lindsey Vander Weide and Taylor Agost. Vander Weide leads the team with 192 kills (2.82 k/s), while Agost is right behind with 191 kills (2.81 k/s) on the year. Two Ducks run the offense for Oregon with Maggie Scott leading the way with a 6.09 assists-per-set average and August Raskie chipping in 4.88 a/s. Defensively, Alex Hojnar notches 3.04 digs per set and Sumeet Gill leads the team with a 1.22 blocks-per-set average.
Oregon won the first meeting between the two teams, downing the Utes in five sets (16-25,13-25,25-16,25-17,19-21) at the Huntsman Center back on Sept. 29.
Oregon State Beavers
After starting conference play just 1-5, Oregon State has won four straight conference matches to improve its Pac-12 record to 5-5. The Beavers’ four straight conference wins have been over the Washington and Arizona-based schools. Most recently, Oregon State beat Arizona in straight sets and then closed out the weekend with a four-set win over Arizona State.
Mary-Kate Marshall leads the Beaver offense and ranks first in the Pac-12 conference with a 4.58 kills-per-set average. Oregon State setter Kylee McLaughlin totals 10.73 assists per set, which ranks fifth in the conference. Kayla Ellis and Grace Massey lead the Beaver defense, totaling 3.45 digs/s and 2.99 dig/s, respectively. Maddy Gravely also adds in 1.19 blk/s for Oregon State.
Utah handed the Beavers a three-set loss (27-25, 25-16, 25-17) at the Huntsman Center earlier this season.
SERIES HISTORY
Following its loss to Oregon earlier this season, the Ducks continue to lead the all-time series with a 13-8 mark against the Utes, which also includes an 8-4 record in Pac-12 Conference play. Utah and Oregon split the season series last year, with the Utes falling in five sets to the Ducks at home, but then registering a four-set win at Matthew Knight Arena. Utah and Oregon have swapped wins with each other dating back to 2014. Utah is 3-3 against the Ducks during that span. The Utes are 4-5 when facing the Ducks in Eugene.
Despite its win over Oregon State earlier this season, the Beavers still lead the all-time series 10-9, but the Utes have won four straight and seven of the past nine matches dating back to the 2012 campaign. Utah is now 7-5 against the Beavers since joining the Pac-12. Utah swept the season series between the two teams a year ago. The Utes are just 2-4 all-time when facing the Beavers at Gill Coliseum, with the other victory coming back in 2013. Two of the last three meetings between the two teams in Corvallis, have gone the full five sets.
COVERING THE UTES
Wednesday’s contest against the Ducks is labeled as the league’s “Spike Night” and the match-up will be televised live on the Pac-12 Networks with Rich Burk calling play-by-play and Amy Gant providing color commentary. Fans can also follow the action on-line by logging onto Pac-12.com/live or watching via smart phones and tablets using the Pac-12 Now App, which can be downloaded at the Apple Store, Google Play Store or Amazon Apps Store.
Friday’s contest between the Utes and Beavers will be live-streamed, with links to the webstream at www.OSUBeavers.com or Pac-12.com/live
Live stats will be provided for both contests this weekend, with links to these matches found at www.UtahUtes.com.
LAST TIME OUT
Utah split its matches with both Los Angeles-based squads after downing then No. 13-ranked UCLA in four sets this past Friday, but then falling to No. 19-ranked USC in five sets on Sunday. Friday’s win over the Bruins marked just the fourth all-time win for the Utes over UCLA and it extended Utah’s conference winning streak to six straight matches. The win streak came to an end though when the Trojans managed to slip past the Utes at Huntsman Center on Sunday.
Utah’s defense totaled 9.0 total team blocks and registered a season-high 90 digs on the way to limiting UCLA to hitting at a clip of just .130 on the evening. Sophomore Brianna Doehrmann set a new career-high with 30 digs and sophomore Bailey Choy added 19 digs in the match, which also marked a career-high for the setter. Senior Adora Anae led the way with 17 kills and she also posted 16 digs for a double-double. Freshman Kenzie Koerber added a double-double for the Utes, totaling new career-highs in both kills (12) and digs (14).
USC totaled 18.0 total team blocks on the way to earning a five-set win over the Utes on Sunday. Utah’s offense was held to just a .168 hitting percentage, which included hitting just .075 in a fourth set where it led midway through the frame, 13-9. Anae notched another double-double with 14 kills and 16 digs, but it wasn’t enough as USC’s Niki Withers tallied 22 kills for the Trojans.
POLL TALK
Utah remained at No. 12 in this week’s AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll, which still gives Utah its highest ranking in the poll since coming in at No. 11 back on Nov. 27, 2006. Utah has now been ranked inside the AVCA Poll for 19 straight weeks dating back to last season – the team’s longest stretch of being ranked since a run of 45 straight weeks that ran Sept. 11, 2000 to Dec. 2, 2002.
This is Utah’s highest ranking all-time in the AVCA Poll as a member of the Pac-12 Conference.
UTES AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
Utah is now 4-4 against AVCA top-25 ranked teams this season. All four losses have come to teams ranked No. 19 or higher (No. 14 Kentucky, No. 14 BYU, No. 12 Oregon and No. 19 USC) and all four losses have come in five sets. Utah is 10-11 against ranked teams the past two seasons.
#ROADWARRIORS
Despite falling to USC and ending its six-match winning streak, the Utes still head into this week’s action with a six-match road winning, which includes four straight road wins against Pac-12 opponents. The six-match road winning streak is the longest streak for the Utes since winning 10 straight road contests back in 2006.
The four-match conference road winning streak is the longest for Utah since joining the Pac-12, surpassing the previous mark of three straight it won last season.
DIGGING WITH DOEHRMANN
Sophomore Brianna Doehrmann registered a career-high 30 digs in Utah’s win over UCLA last week, which surpassed her previous career-high of 20 digs that she recorded against Oregon back on Nov. 9, 2016.
Doehrmann became the first Utah player to record at least 20 digs in a match this season. She also became the first Ute to register at least 30 digs in a match since Keisha Fisher notched 33 digs at Colorado State back on Sept. 18, 2008.
LEADERS OF THE PAC
Utah continues to rank among the league leaders in assists/set (13.87), total assists (1,137), kills/set (14.61), and team kills (1,198). Individually, seniorTawnee Luafalemana and junior Berkeley Oblad both rank No. 2 in the league with a .356 hitting percentage. Senior Adora Anae ranks fourth in the league in kills/set (4.20) and total kills (319). Sophomore Bailey Choy is third in the league with 788 total assists.
UP NEXT
Utah returns back home next week to host Washington State (Thursday, Nov. 2) and Washington (Saturday, Nov. 4). The Utes downed both the Huskies and Cougars on the road earlier this season. Both matches next week will be live-streamed.
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