Utah Comeback Falls Short Against #19 Wildcats

Thursday, November 12

Salt Lake City, Utah

7:00 PM

University of Utah

9-17, 3-12Pac-12

Arizona

17-10, 7-8Pac-12

Arizona

Utah

11/12/2015 12:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score

Nov. 12, 2015

Final Stats

SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah volleyball team came back from a 2-0 deficit to take the match to a fifth set, but the No. 19-ranked Arizona Wildcats managed to take the final frame and defeat the Utes (21-25, 14-25, 25-19, 29-27, 13-15) Thursday night at the Huntsman Center.

After falling behind 25-21 and 25-14 in the first two sets, the Utes (9-17, 3-12 Pac-12) managed to limit the Wildcats (17-10, 7-8 Pac-12) to a -.091 hitting percentage, while taking the third set 25-19. Utah then trailed by many as four points late in fourth set - down 22-18 - but managed to get within a point of the Wildcats, down 23-22 following an attack error from the visiting squad.

Arizona would go up match-point with a kill from Kalei Mau, but following a timeout, the Utes came back to tie the set at 24-24. Both teams traded points back-and-forth until an Arizona service error put the Utes on top 28-27. Junior Alyssa Koenig closed out the set with a service ace and Utah won the frame 29-27 to take the match into a fifth set.

Sophomore Adora Anae recorded a pair of her match-high 23 kills early in the fifth set to give the Utes a 5-2 lead, but Arizona later countered with back-to-back points to pull within a point, down 6-5. Sophomore Carly Trueman connected on a kill and both teams would switch sides of the court with Utah leading 8-7. Consecutive errors from the Wildcats put Utah up 10-7, but following an Arizona timeout, the visiting team went on a 7-0 run to go up match-point, 14-10.

Out of timeouts, Utah still managed to win the next three points and pulled within a point of the Wildcats, but Arizona's Nikki Attea connected on a kill to give the Wildcats a 15-13 win and take the match 3-2.

Anae led all players with her 23 kills and she also posted 21 digs to record her 16th double-double, to go along with her third 20-20 effort of the season. She eclipsed the 400-kill mark early in the first set to become the first Utah player with 400-plus kills in a single-season since 2007 (Kathryn Haynie, 423).

Senior Kendall Cygan led the Utes with 27 assists and early in the second set she recorded the 2,310th assist of her career to move into sixth-place all-time in school history.

Megan Shughrou recorded a match-high 22 digs on the evening, which marked a new career-high for the true freshman. Meanwhile, redshirt freshman Jessie Jorgensen tallied a team-high three service aces and the Utes finished with a total of seven aces in the match.

Senior Brenna DeYoung tallied a team-high six blocks, but both squads finished the evening tied with 9.0 total team blocks each.

The Utes will be back in action again on Saturday, Nov. 14, closing out the weekend against No. 21-ranked Arizona State. First serve between the Utes and Sun Devils is set for 7 p.m. inside the Huntsman Center.