LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 23-ranked Utah Utes opened the 2017 campaign in sweeping fashion, downing the Cincinnati Bearcats in straight sets (25-10, 25-18, 25-17) in its first match of the Bluegrass Battle Friday afternoon at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Ky.
Senior All-American
Adora Anae led the way with 19 kills, while fellow senior
Tawnee Luafalemana added five kills and a team-leading five total blocks. Anae did not have a hitting error in the match and finished the afternoon with a career-high .760 hitting percentage. Her previous career-high was a .457 total she tallied against Idaho State last season.
Utah ran away with the match registering 37 kills on just 73 attempts and outhitting the Bearcats .425 to .089 in the match. Cincinnati totaled 23 hitting errors, while the Utes managed to total just six hitting errors through three frames. The Utes led the way on defense as well, out-digging the Bearcats (33-28) and posting more blocks on the day (5.0-3.0)
Anae and Luafalemana tallied four kills each and the Utes rolled to a 25-10 first-set victory. Utah opened the set with a 4-0 run and then later used a pair of 5-0 runs to go up 22-9. Anae would get two of Utah's final three kills in the frame and the Utes went onto outhit the Bearcats .500 to -.172. Cincy had a total of 11 attack errors, while the Utes registered just one in the set.
The Utes jumped out to a 7-4 lead following a service ace from
Camryn Machado, which forced the Bearcats to call an early timeout. Anae registered three of the next four points in the set for the Utes, but Cincinnati followed with a 7-1 run to take its first lead of the afternoon, up 12-11 midway through the set and forcing the Utes to call a timeout.
Utah countered out of the timeout with an 8-2 run and then closed the frame winning six of the next 10 points to take the set, 25-18. Anae would finish the set with 10 kills to bring her total to 14 kills through two frames.
Anae would get five more kills and a service ace, while helping guide the Utes to a 25-17 win in the third set. Cincinnati kept things close midway through the set, down just 13-11, but a 9-3 run put the Utes in control on the way to earning the straight sets victory. Despite Cincinnati registering more kills than Utah in the frame (13-11), the Utes went onto outhit the Bearcats .526 to .259 in the frame.
Junior
Berkeley Oblad, who registered the final kill for the Utes on the day, finished with four kills and a .429 hitting percentage. Luafalemana tallied a .444 hitting percentage, giving the Utes three players with .400-plus attacking totals in the same match.
Anae, who came into the match ranked No. 3 all-time in school history with 1,373 kills, moved up to No. 3 all-time with 1,392 kills. She surpassed Chesley Schofield-Olsen, who tallied a total of 1,379 kills.
Sophomore
Bailey Choy led the Utes with 21 assists. Freshman
Camryn Machado added nine assists, while leading the team with two service aces. Freshman
Shannon Scully totaled a team-high 10 digs on the afternoon and fellow freshman
Kenzie Koerber collected four total blocks.
The Utes will be back in action again tonight, taking on No. 14-ranked Kentucky at 7 p.m. MT/9 p.m. ET. The contest will be televised live on the SEC Network. The contest can also be aired on the WatchESPN app.