Utes Open Tiger Invitational with Sweep Over Rice

Friday, September 2

Columbia, Mo.

12:30 PM

University of Utah

3-1

Rice

2-3

Rice

Utah

Utes Open Tiger Invitational with Sweep Over Rice

9/2/2016 5:27 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Trueman leads all players with 14 kills on .565 hitting

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Junior Carly Trueman tallied a team-high 14 kills and junior Adora Anae posted a double-double (12 kills, 14 digs) to help lead the Utah Utes (3-1) past the Rice Owls (2-3) in straight sets (25-21, 25-17, 25-18) Friday afternoon at the Hearnes Center.

Utah opened play at the Tiger Invitational with a convincing win over Rice, out-hitting the Owls .376 to .221 in the neutral court match. The Utes tallied 50 kills and six service aces in a match that took just over an hour to complete.

Trueman notched new season-highs for kills (14) and hitting percentage (.565), while Anae collected 10-plus kills for the sixth straight match dating back to last season.

Senior Tess Sutton led the Utes with 16 digs, while Anae added 14 digs for her third double-double of the season.

Juniors Tawnee Luafalemana and Eliza Katoa led the way at the net, posting three total blocks each for the Utes. Anae and sophomore Jessie Openshaw recorded a pair of service aces each and Openshaw led the squad with 19 assists on the afternoon.

Rice led the match early, but a kill from Trueman opened a 6-0 run and forced the Owls to call a timeout early in the first set. Anae's second service ace of the set pushed Utah's lead to 18-12 and the Utes would later go up by seven points (19-12) following another kill from Trueman.

The Owls managed to get back within two points of the Utes, down 22-20, but Utah won three of the final four points and took the first frame 25-21 with a kill from Luafalemana.

Utah never trailed in the second set, on the way to a 25-17 win. Back-to-back service aces from Openshaw pushed Utah's lead to 14-9 and that forced Rice to call a quick timeout. The Owls would get back within three points of the Utes, down 15-12, but Utah countered with a kill from Trueman, which helped lead to a 3-0 run.

Down 22-16, Rice got its next point on a Utah attacking error, but the Utes closed the frame with consecutive kills from sophomore Berkeley Oblad, Luafalemana and Anae to give Utah a commanding 2-0 lead.

Freshman Torre Glasker opened the third set with a service ace and Utah never looked back on the way to a 3-0 sweep with a 25-18 win in the frame. The Utes registered 16 kills on .412 hitting in the frame, while the defense limited Rice to netting just a .167 hitting percentage in the final set.

Utah had just nine hitting errors in the match on the way to recording its season-best .376 hitting percentage.

Utah wraps up Friday's action against the Missouri Tigers (3-0). First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. CT and the match will be streamed on the SEC Network+/ WatchESPN platform.