Upcoming Event: Volleyball versus Weber State (Exhibition) on August 15, 2026 at 3:00 P.M.
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The University of Utah Athletics
#23 Volleyball Set to Open 2015 Season on Friday
8/25/2015 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 25, 2015
Match 1-3: vs. Idaho State (0-0) | vs. Cal State Northridge (0-0) | vs. Lipscomb (0-0)
When: Friday, Aug. 28 (7 p.m.) | Saturday, Aug. 29 (10 a.m. & 7 p.m.)
Where: Salt Lake City, Utah (Huntsman Center)
Live Stats: UtahUtes.com
Television: N/A
Live Web-Stream: UtahUtes.com
All-Time Series: vs. Idaho State (28-10) | vs. CSUN (1-1) | vs. Lipscomb (1-0)
- Complete Match Notes (PDF)
FIRST SERVE
Utah (0-0) officially opens the 2015 schedule at the Huntsman Center, hosting the Utah Classic this Friday and Saturday, Aug. 28-29. Utah welcomes Idaho State (0-0), Cal State Northridge (0-0) and Lipscomb (0-0).
Action gets underway on Friday with the Matadors taking on the Bisons at 4:30 p.m., followed by the Utes hosting the Bengals at 7 p.m. Saturday's contests include Utah facing the Matadors at 10 a.m. before concluding the tournament against the Bisons at 7 p.m. ISU will face Lipscomb at noon on Saturday and will then follow playing CSUN at 5 p.m.
COVERING THE UTES
A live video stream will be provided for all three of Utah's matches, which can be found at www.pac-12.com/live/university-Utah.
Mike Lageschulte will provide play-by-play for Friday's broadcast, while Lance Barton takes over play-calling duties for both matches on Saturday.
Live stats will be provided for all six matches over the weekend and can be found by clicking the "Gametracker" link on the volleyball schedule page at UtahUtes.com.
FOLLOWING UTAH VOLLEYBALL
Make sure to "Like" Utah Volleyball on Facebook to receive inside information from the Utes, as well as set-by-set updates during matches.
Fans can also stay connected with the Utah Volleyball program by following
@UtahVolleyball on Instagram and Twitter.
ABOUT UTAH
Utah made its 12th NCAA tournament appearance in 2014 and concluded the season with a 20-13 overall record, while going 9-11 and tying for seventh-place in the always-competitive Pac-12. Utah, which was 12-2 at home (7-1 inside the Huntsman Center) in 2014, returns eight letterwinners to the squad this season, including starters Adora Anae,a sophomore, (280 kills, 129 digs, 70 blocks) and sophomore Carly Trueman (178 kills, 113 blocks). Anae was a All-Pac-12 Freshman Team selection last season and Trueman was named a Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week.
Also included in mix for 2015 are a handful of players that got a lot of playing time last season: sophomore Eliza Katoa (56 sets, 118 kills, 49 digs, 29 blocks), senior Kendall Cygan (109 sets, 543 assists, 193 digs) and junior Tess Sutton (68 sets, 96 digs). Cygan currently ranks seventh all-time in school history with 1,864 career assists.
The Utes also return sophomore McCall Phillips, junior Alyssa Koenig and redshirt freshmen Jessie Jorgensen, Emma Kirst and Caroline Sipiora.
Utah welcomes a pair of incoming transfers in senior Bailee Kendall (College of Idaho) and junior Madison Legerski (Casper College), along with four incoming freshmen Megan Boudreaux (South Jordan, Utah), Berkeley Oblad (Henderson, Nev.), Megan Shughrou (Temecula, Calif.) and Emily Twohig (Boise, Idaho).
Head coach Beth Launiere is in her 26th season at the helm of the Ute volleyball program and she enters the 2015 campaign with an overall record of 491-303 (.620). Launiere welcomes two new assistant coaches to the sidelines this season, as well, with JJ Van Niel and Malia Shoji on board for their first season with the Utes.
SCOUTING THE FIELD
• Idaho State - The Bengals went 23-9 overall and won the Big Sky regular-season with a record of 15-1, but ISU's No. 97 RPI ranking left them out of the NCAA Tournament. The Bengals return six letterwinners and three starters from last season's squad, including All-Big Sky First Team selections, Tressa Lyman and Makenzie Filer. Lyman was also named the league's Most Valuable Player last season after posting 404 kills (3.51/set), 321 digs (2.79/set) and 70 total blocks (0.61/set).
Head coach Rick Reynolds is in his first season at the helm of the ISU volleyball program after taking over for Chad Teichert, who returned to coaching at the high school level. Assistant coach Keisha Fisher was a four-year letterwinner for the Utes from 2007-10 and ranks first all-time in digs in a single-match (33), digs in a season (498, 2010) and digs in a career (1,608).
• Cal State Northridge - The Matadors went 19-9 overall and 10-6 in the Big West last season. Head coach Jeff Stork is in his 14th season at CSUN and is 187-194 overall with the Matadors.
CSUN returns eight letterwinners and one starter in 2015, including All-Big West First Team selection Cieana Stinson, who tallied 329 kills (3.29/set) and 40 total blocks (0.40/set). Lauren Conati also returns after collecting 309 assists (9.09/set) in 2015.
• Lipscomb - The Bisons went 21-9 overall and 13-1 to win the Atlantic Sun regular-season title last season. Lipscomb fell to Jacksonville in the A-Sun Championship final, but did manage to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. The Bisons fell in straight sets to Ohio State in the first round.
Head coach Brandon Rosenthal, who enters his 13th season at Lipscomb, returns all six starters and a total of nine letterwinners from last season's squad. All-Atlantic Sun selections returning include Brittany Estes, Kayla Ostrom and Molly Spitznagle. Estes posted 344 kills (2.87), Spitznagle tallied 283 kills (2.36/set) and Ostrom recorded 1,072 assists (11.17/set).
UTAH IN HOME AND SEASON OPENERS
The Utes have won seven straight season-openers dating back to 2008, which included a 3-0 win over Montana State in the first match of the Utah Classic last season. Utah has also tallied seven consecutive victories in home-openers and is 14-1 in its previous 15 home-opening contests.
Five of the seven straight wins at home have come via sweep.
UTES IN THE CLASSIC
Friday's tournament marks the 18th Utah Classic dating back to 1990. Utah is 40-10 all-time in the Utah Classic, which includes having won the previous six matches of the tournament from 2013 (3-0) and 2014 (3-0).
Utah is 24-2 in the Classic since 2001 and has recorded a winning record in the tournament in 15 of the previous 16 home classics.
STRONG START TO THE SEASON
The Utes recorded a 10-match winning streak to begin the 2014 campaign, which tied the previous school record of 10 straight wins that was set the season prior in 2013.
Prior to the 10-match winning streaks over the past two seasons, Utah's longest winning streak to begin the season was an eight-match streak that was set back in 2000.
CONSECUTIVE SETS WON WITHOUT A LOSS
Utah recorded its second-most consecutive set-wins without a loss last season, collecting 18 straight set-wins from Aug. 30 - Sept. 13. The Utes tallied a school record 21 consecutive set-wins in 2006.
LAUNIERE CLOSING IN ON WIN NO. 500
Head coach Beth Launiere will open the 2015 campaign with 491 career wins - just nine victories shy from earning her 500th career win. All 491 of her career wins have been recorded at Utah since she took over the program in 1990. During that stretch, Launiere has tallied 15 20-win seasons, which included 21 victories in 2013 and 20 win in 2014.
UTES RANKED NO. 23 IN AVCA PRESEASON POLL
Utah will open the 2015 campaign ranked No. 23 in the AVCA's Preseason Top-25 Poll, which was released back on Aug. 25. The Utes, who finished the 2014 campaign ranked No. 18 in AVCA's final poll, received 211 total points in the preseason standings.
Utah is one of nine Pac-12 teams ranked in the preseason poll, which also includes Stanford (No. 2), Washington (No. 10), Oregon (No. 13), Arizona State (No. 16), Arizona (No. 17), UCLA (No. 20), USC (No. 22) and Colorado (No. 24).
Penn State received 54 of the 62 first-place votes to take the top spot in the poll, while Stanford (6), Texas (1) and Wisconsin (1) received the remaining first-place nods. Stanford, Texas, Florida, Nebraska and Wisconsin rounded out the top-five, respectively, with both Nebraska and Wisconsin tying for the No. 5 spot.
This marks the fifth time that Utah has been ranked in the AVCA preseason poll and first time since 2009 (No. 17).
UTES PICKED 10TH IN PAC-12 PRESEASON POLL
The Pac-12 coaches voted Utah to finish 10th overall in the conference this season, according to the preseason poll that was released on Aug. 11.
Stanford received 11 of 12 first-place votes for a total of 121 points to take top honors in this season's poll. Arizona State followed in second with 99 total points, while Washington rounded out the top three spots, earning the league's final first-place vote for a total of 97 points.
Oregon (94 points) was tabbed fourth in the poll and USC (84) was voted fifth. Colorado (61), Arizona (60), UCLA (57) and Oregon State (35) were picked ahead of Utah, while California (28) and Washington State (22) completed the preseason poll, respectively.
ANAE NAMED TO ALL-PAC-12 PRESEASON TEAM
Sophomore outside hitter Adora Anae was one of 14 players named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 Volleyball Team. She becomes the first Ute player to be named to the preseason squad since Utah joined the conference in 2011. Anae was a Pac-12 All-Freshman Team selection in 2014.
CYGAN CHASES HISTORY
Senior setter Kendall Cygan enters the 2015 campaign ranked No. 7 on Utah's all-time career assists list with 1,864 assists tallied in her first three seasons with the Utes. Cygan is 446 assists shy from taking over sixth-place (Katie Gesto, 1984-86, 2,309 assists).
UTES ON THE PAC-12 NETWORK
Utah will have 13 of its 31 regular-season matches aired live on the Pac-12 Network in 2015. Home contests scheduled to be televised include: BYU (Sept. 17), Colorado (Sept. 23), UCLA (Oct. 9), Stanford (Oct. 16), Oregon (Oct. 30), Oregon State (Nov. 1) and Arizona (Nov. 12).
Road matches scheduled to be televised live include: at Oregon State (Oct. 2), at Arizona State (Oct. 23), at Arizona (Oct. 25), at USC (Nov. 8), at Stanford (Nov. 20) and at Colorado (Nov. 27).
Home matches not scheduled to be televised will be streamed live on UtahUtes.com and at Pac-12.com/live/university-utah. Those matches include: Idaho State (Aug. 28), Cal State Northridge and Lipscomb (Aug. 29), USC (Oct. 11), California (Oct. 18), Arizona State (Nov. 14) and Washington (Nov. 25).
UP NEXT
Following the Utah Classic, the Utes will head to Logan on Tuesday, Sept. 1, to take on Utah State in the team's first road match of the season. First serve at Wayne Estes Center is set for 7 p.m. (MT).
The Utes will then continue non-conference tournament play next weekend (Sept. 4-5) with three matches at the Gonzaga Invitational in Spokane, Wash. Utah will face Montana at 7 p.m. (MT) on Friday, followed by matches against Wyoming (1 p.m. MT) and at Gonzaga (8 p.m. MT) on Saturday.
Utah's next home contest will be against BYU on Thursday, Sept. 17. First serve against the Cougars is set for 7:30 p.m. (MT).
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