Utah Volleyball Drops Five-set Heartbreaker to Eastern Michigan

Friday, September 9

Salt Lake City

7:00 PM

University of Utah

Eastern Michigan

Utah Volleyball Drops Five-set Heartbreaker to Eastern Michigan

9/9/2011 12:00 AM | Volleyball

Sept. 9, 2011

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SALT LAKE CITY - The Utes had four players with double figures in digs and three players with double-digits in kills but the University of Utah volleyball team fell in five sets to Eastern Michigan (25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 22-25, 16-18) Friday at Crimson Court in the second match of the Utah Invitational.

"We have to learn how to play more consistently," Utah head coach Beth Launiere said. "We were up and down. We let [Eastern Michigan] start believing and I felt like we let them into the match. We relaxed and we can't do that. We have to get better as the match goes on and we're just too up and down."

Utah (4-3) outhit EMU .233 to .160 in the match and also earned a 19.0 to 4.0 advantage in team blocking for the match. The Utes have held six out of their first seven opponents this season under .200 and have held the advantage in blocking during all seven contests.

"We blocked well," Launiere said. "But we continue to lose when we block well. It's our sideout game that has to improve. We are too inconsistent on getting first-ball kills."

Sophomore middle blocker Erin Redd connected on a match and career-high 18 kills on a .325 hitting percentage to go along with a career-high 10 blocks.

Freshman hitter Chelsey Schofield tied her career high with 17 kills to go with 12 digs for her first career double-double performance.

Sophomore outside hitter Morgan Odale was the third Ute in double-figures in kills, going for 12 to go along with a career-high 22 digs and a career-high seven blocks.

Junior Abby Simmons coordinated the Utah offense with a season-high 32 assists, which fell just one shy of tying her career-best of 33, which was set against Utah State on Sept. 8, 2009. McKenzie Odale set up the Ute attack with 23 assists and set a new career-best with five blocks.

In the back row of the Ute defense, sophomore libero Nikki Sim recorded a match and career-high 27 digs. Sim has reached double-digits in digs in four consecutive games and in six out of seven matches this season. Freshman Lea Adolph established a career-high mark in digs for the second consecutive match, recording 15 digs against Eastern Michigan.

After giving up the first point of the match, the Utes went on a 7-0 tear to take a 7-1 advantage. Utah maintained its six-point lead (11-5) until EMU used an 8-3 stretch to climb within a point, 14-13. The Utes worked their edge back to four points with a 5-2 surge (19-15) but EMU forced the second tied of the match at 20 points apiece then took their second lead (21-20). A Schofield kill brought the third kill of the set (21-21) then a block by Schofield and Danielle Killpack regained the lead for Utah. The frame was tied for a fourth time (22-22) but three consecutive points by the Utes gave them a 25-22 first-set win. Utah outblocked EMU 7-0 and outhit the Eagles, .256 to .065, in the first set. Schofield turned in five kills on 11 swings for a .455 percentage while Killpack and McKenzie Odale had four blocks apiece. Morgan Odale added three kills and six digs and Redd registered four kills on seven attempts with one error for a .429 efficiency along with the blocks. Utah fell to 4-0 when winning the first set this season.

In what turned out to be a back-and-forth set, the Utes started the second set by taking four of the first five points and led by as many as five (8-3). The Eagles responded with a 5-1 spurt to get within a point (9-8) before the Utes responded by going on an 8-4 run to reclaim its five-point edge at 17-12. EMU came back with a 7-0 run to force the second tie of the set at 19 points apiece before claiming its first lead, 20-19. Utah gained a 3-2 edge over EMU to knot the third tie of the set (22-22). The teams alternated points once, but the Eagles seized the second set with a 25-23 victory. Utah outhit EMU .262 to .159 and held a 3-1 edge in team blocks in the set while Schofield and Redd added four more kills.

Utah found itself in a hole early in the third set as Eastern Michigan scored the first seven points of the frame. The Utes went on an 18-11 stretch and cut their deficit to one on six different occasions before earning the first tie of the set at 18 points apiece. The Utes continued to seize the momentum and took seven of the last nine points in the set and earn a 25-20 win in the third set. Utah earned a .225 to .114 advantage in team hitting and Redd pounded a team-high five kills.

Eastern Michigan once again used a quick start to claim a 3-0 lead in the fourth set, but Utah stormed back with a 4-0 run. The set was tied at 4-4 before a 6-2 Eagle run gave them a 10-6 edge. EMU eventually worked its lead up to six points at 20-14 but Utah cut its deficit to two points after going on a 8-4 run. Unfortunately, an Erin Short kill gave the Eagles a 25-22 win to even the match at two sets apiece. The Utes outhit the Eagles .312 to .195 in the frame, led by four kills on 10 swings without an error by Morgan Odale, while Sim added six digs.

In the Utes' first five-set match of the year, Utah claimed the first two points of the decisive fifth frame. The Utes then inched to a three-point edge (7-4) after a 3-1 spurt. EMU came back with a 4-1 stretch of its own to tie the set for the second time, 8-8. The third tie of the set came at 10 points apiece before a kill by Jennifer Lanting and a block by Redd and Simmons gave the Utes a 12-10 lead. The Eagles came back to knot the set for the fourth time at 12-12 and the action would even four more times at 13, 14, 15 and 16 all before EMU clinched the 18-16 win. The Utes limited EMU to a .167 hitting percentage, but could only muster a .122 clip themselves while Schofield added three kills and four blocks.

"We have got to have a competitor's edge and we can get that," Launiere said. "We just have to learn to get it. We've been too inconsistent the whole season. It's just about our execution. There is nothing to fix except the mental aspect of the game. We have to come in and play a complete match." Eastern Michigan (8-1) was led by 15 kills apiece from Rachel Iaquaniello and Paige Roback. Haley Stein turned in a team-high 25 digs.

The Utes will play a doubleheader at Crimson Court on the second day of the Utah Invitational, starting at 10 a.m. against UC Riverside then ends the event with a Deseret First Duel match against BYU at 7 p.m.