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University of Utah
3
vs
0
Colgate
Utah Volleyball Downs Colgate, 3-0
9/2/2011 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 2, 2011
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The University of Utah volleyball team held its opponent to a sub-.200 hitting percentage for the fourth consecutive match to start this season and the Utes earned a 3-0 win over Colgate (25-13, 25-16, 26-24) Friday in the opening match of the Yale Invitational in the John Lee Amphitheater.
Utah (3-1) needed a furious rally in the third set to claim their third win of the season. The final set of the match was tied four times before a 5-1 spurt by the Raiders gave them a 17-13 lead, but Utah came back strong with an 11-6 rally to reclaim the lead, 24-23. CU got the next point to event the set at 24 points apiece, but Utah was able to seal the victory thanks to kills by McKenzie and Morgan Odale. CU was able to gain a slight .333 to .324 advantage in hitting over the Utes in the finale, but the Utes had a 2.0-0.0 edge in team blocking.
The Utes outhit the Raiders .383 to .120 for the match and held an 8.0 to 1.0 edge in team blocks. Utah's .383 clip on the attack was a season-high mark by nearly 100 percentage points.
"Our defense is really making a difference," Utah head coach Beth Launiere said. "Our offense is taking a little while to come around. We had a good offensive performance tonight, but during the Utah Classic, we were a little bit sluggish. We worked so hard on our blocking during the offseason and it's paying off."
Morgan Odale turned in her second double-figure-kill match of the season and the 24th of her career with 16 kills on 35 swings for a season-high .371 hitting percentage. She also had seven digs and two blocks.
"Offensively, everyone got involved," Launiere said. "Morgan led us, but we had a lot of kills from a lot of different players."
Including Morgan Odale, six different Utes registered at least three kills in the match, including six from Chelsey Schofield as well five from both Danielle Killpack and Erin Redd.
McKenzie Odale dished out 32 assists and tied her career-high with three blocks, which tied Killpack for match-high honors.
Libero Nikki Sim hit the double-digit-dig mark for the third time in four matches this season with 10 digs to lead the Ute back row.
Freshman Lea Adolph served a team-high three aces and also chipped in nine digs.
Trailing 5-3 in the first set, the Utes reeled off an impressive 16-1 run to take control of the set and assume a 19-6 advantage. Utah would cruise to a 25-13 first-set victory behind six kills on 11 swings for a .545 efficiency by Morgan Odale along with four kills on eight attempts (.500) by Schofield. The Utes outhit the Raiders in the set .516 to .069 and held a 3.0 to 1.0 edge in team blocks. McKenzie Odale distributed 14 assists in the opening set.
The Utes took five of the first six points of the second set and they would never look back en route to a 25-16 win in the second set. Morgan Odale added four more kills while Utah kept up its efficient offense with a .310 percentage while holding Colgate to a .000 mark in the frame.
Colgate (1-3) was led on the by attack by Kenzie Hume and Lindsay Young, who both had six kills apiece. Lexi Finger had a match-high 20 digs.
Utah concludes Yale Invitational action with a pair of matches tomorrow at the John Lee Amphitheater, beginning at 1 p.m. ET against Boston College then against host Yale at 7 p.m. ET. Fans can watch the Yale match via a pay-per-view live stream here.
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