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University of Utah
1
vs
3
Utah State
Utah Volleyball Falls to Utah State, 3-1
8/28/2010 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 28, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY - Freshman Morgan Odale turned in her second consecutive strong performance with 18 kills and nine digs but the University of Utah volleyball team fell to Utah State, 3-1 (30-28, 19-25, 23-25, 19-25) Saturday at Crimson Court.
Utah (1-1) was out hit (.277 to .231) and out blocked (8.5-8.0) by Utah State in what turned out to be the championship match of the Utah Classic.
Aside being just one dig shy of her second consecutive double-double, Odale posted a solid .327 hitting percentage, needing 49 attempts to get her 18 kills with only two errors. The Star, Idaho native tied for the team lead with four blocks.
"[Morgan] Odale is aggressive, physical and experienced," Utah head coach Beth Launiere said. "Erin Redd is going to be really good, too. Plus we have a sophomore setter [McKenzie Odale]. We knew they were going to make some mistakes but we have to trust that they are going to get better and they will they got the tools and talent."
Freshman Erin Redd turned in a six kills and also tied for the team high with four blocks, while McKenzie Odale and Stephanie Neeley distributed 23 assists each.
Sarah Hibbert Collette was the other Ute with double figures in kills as she had 11 on 35 attempts with six errors for a .143 hitting percentage.
In the back row of the Ute defense, senior libero Keisha Fisher dug out 17 Aggie attack attempts for her 62nd career double-digit-dig match and her fifth straight.
The first set was competitive throughout with 12 ties and four lead changes. It also featured a thrilling finish with Utah State holding a 25-24 advantage before Utah fought off four set points to take a 30-28 first-set victory. Morgan Odale had six kills and five digs. Hibbert Collette also turned in five kills and Neeley dished out 10 assists to go along with five digs. Earlier in the set, neither team led by more than three points until Utah scored four consecutive points to assume a 20-15 lead. Unfortunately, Utah State came back with a 7-1 run to tie the set at 23 points apiece. A Karolina Bartkowiak kill gave Utah a 24-23 edge but USU quickly came back with consecutive kills before Killpack tied the set for the ninth time at 25. After three more ties, a USU attack error and a Hibbert Collette kill gave Utah a 30-28 first-set win. Morgan Odale had six kills and five digs in the first set alone.
The second set was tied at three points apiece before Utah State went on a 4-0 run. The Aggies maintained their four-point advantage at 14-10. They would eventually push their lead to as many as eight points (21-13) via a 10-1 run. USU went on to win the set, 25-19. Hibbert Collette tallied four kills but the Utes were outhit .289 to .176, to tie the match at one set apiece.
There were five ties early in the third set and as the teams were even at nine points apiece, Utah went on a 5-1 tear to assume a 14-10 lead. The Aggies then fought back within a point on three separate occasions then managed to re-tie the set at 18 points apiece. The Utes found themselves down 24-22 then a Hibbert Collette kill regained the serve for Utah but Utah State was still able to earn the set-clinching point on a kill by Liz McArthur. Morgan Odale added five more kills to her total during the set and Bartkowiak had five digs as the Utes out hit the Aggies .216 to .205 but were unable to pull out the victory.
Utah fell behind 9-4 at the start of the fourth set but managed to tie the set once again at 13-13 thanks to a 9-4 stretch en route to a 25-19 match-clinching win. Morgan Odale added five more kills on nine swings for a .556 hitting percentage to lead the Utes.
Utah State (2-0) was led by McArthur, who was named the Utah Classic Most Valuable Player after hitting a match-high 25 kills on just 43 swings and only three errors for a .512 hitting percentage. Four different Aggies registered double-figures in digs.
The Utes fell to 43-25 all-time against the Aggies and are now 24-5 at Crimson Court since 2008 and 16-3 in non-conference matchups.
"We need to improve our blocking and serving," Launiere said. "We knew we were going to make mistakes. We were playing young players. I saw a lot of positives. We just have to keep getting better.
"We played well against UC Davis. They are a good team, picked to be second in the Big West [Conference]. That was a big win. Utah State will win a lot of matches this year. We're going to learn from this and take what we can to get better. We want to get through these challenges early because we know what we have to do."
Utah hosts Utah Valley on Tuesday. First serve from Crimson Court is set for 7 p.m.
2010 Utah Classic All-Tournament Team
Liz McArthur, Utah State
Betsy Sedlack, UC Davis
Sarah Hibbert Collette, Utah
Morgan Odale, Utah
Josselyn White, Utah State
Libero: Christina Morrill, Utah State
Most Valuable Player: Liz McArthur, Utah State
Players Mentioned
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