Utah Volleyball Falls to Nova KBM in Exhibition Match

Tuesday, August 30

Salt Lake City

7:00 PM

University of Utah

Nova KBM Maribor, Slovenia (exh.)

Utah Volleyball Falls to Nova KBM in Exhibition Match

8/30/2011 12:00 AM | Volleyball

Aug. 30, 2011

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SALT LAKE CITY - Ute freshman Alli Spurrier had 10 blocks and sophomore outside hitter Morgan Odale added 14 kills and six digs but the University of Utah volleyball team fell in five sets to Nova KBM (25-23, 25-22, 16-25, 20-25, 5-15) in an exhibition match Tuesday night at Crimson Court.

"It took [Nova KBM' a little while to get warmed up and when they did, they were a typical European team," Utah head coach Beth Launiere said. "They served tough at us. They served banging balls that we didn't handle defensively. It's really not surprising the type of match it was. That was the type of match I wanted to get into. There are a lot of older players on that team who are very experienced."

The Utes outblocked Nova KBM 14.5 to 11 for the match, but their opponents hit .314 compared to a .207 mark for Utah.

Spurrier had a match-high 10 blocks and Danielle Killpack added nine.

Morgan Odale totaled her 14 kills on 36 swings with only four errors to go along six digs and three blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Erin Redd had 13 kills on only 21 attempts with three errors as well as four blocks and two digs. Shelby Dalton hit six kills on 10 swings for a .300 percentage on the attack and also pitched in five digs.

Setter McKenzie Odale coordinated the Utah offense with 28 assists, while Abby Simmons added nine.

Defensively, both McKenzie and Morgan Odale along with Chelsey Schofield tied for team-high honors with six digs apiece.

"We had a chance to play a lot of different players in some significant playing time, not just here and there and that was good," Launiere said. "I would've liked to have done better in set five. It got away from us a little bit and we are struggling in passing. I am not going to lose a lot of sleep over this. We gained a lot of experience out of this that you can't get in practice. That is what we wanted."

Utah hit for percentages of .250 and .464 during the first two sets, both wins, but failed to go over .125 on the attack in the remaining three sets of the match.

The Utes four of the opening five points and led by as many as five (10-5) after a Lea Adolph service ace. Nova KBM came back to take its first lead at 14-13 via a 6-1 run. The set would be tied three more times, with the last coming at 19, before a service ace by Dalton and kills by Redd and Morgan Odale were part of a 5-0 run that regained the lead for the Utes at 22-19. Morgan Odale had six kills on 11 swings for a .545 efficiency, while McKenzie Odale had 11 assists and four digs. At the net, Spurrier, Killpack and Redd registered two blocks apiece.

There were 18 ties in the second set with the final one coming at 22 points apiece. The Utes then took control with two Redd kills and one by Morgan Odale gave Utah the 25-22 second-set victory. Morgan Odale had five kills in the set and Utah outhit Nova KBM, .464 to .278. McKenzie Odale distributed 14 assists and Killpack posted three more blocks, while Dalton had a team-high four digs.

Utah took the first three points of the third set but Nova KBM countered with four straight scores to take its first lead of the set, 4-3. There were four more ties (8-8) before Nova KBM took six of the next nine points to assume a 14-11 lead. The Utes went on a 3-1 spurt to close within a point (15-14), but Nova KBM extended its lead to five points at 19-14 after a 4-1 run en route to a 25-16 win to take the set, 25-16. Nova KBM hit .625 in the set while a trio of Utes - Killpack, Schofield and Dalton - had two kills apiece.

Nova KBM took the first two points of the fourth set but Utah came back to tie the set at 3. The set would be tied three more times before Nova KBM claimed a 9-7 and surged to a 13-9 lead. Utah stormed back with four unanswered points to even the set at 13 points apiece. Action would be knotted three more times (16-16) but a 7-2 stretch by Nova KBM gave them a 23-18 advantage. Nova KBM would go on to force the fifth set with a 25-20. Morgan Odale added three more kills, while Adolph had four digs in the Ute back row and Spurrier was impressive up front with four blocks.

Nova KBM jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the decisive fifth set and clinched the match with a 15-5 fifth-set win.

Nova KBM had four players with double-figures in kills, led by a match-high 18 by Sarah Ammerman. Mihela Planinsec and Sara Hutinski added 14 kills each and Monika Potokar had 12.

The Utes hit the road for the first time this season with three matches at the Yale Invitational this weekend in New Haven, Conn. Utah starts the event Friday at 5 p.m. ET against Colgate.