#16 Utah Utes Top Utah Valley Wolverines 3-1

Friday, September 15

Orem, UT

5:00 PM

University of Utah

9-2

Utah Valley

5-9

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Utah	19	25	25	25	3
Utah Valley	25	18	16	22	1

9/15/2017 7:24 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Utah 3, UVU 1

Utes closed out non-conference play Friday night

OREM, Utah – Led by career-high efforts from senior Tawnee Luafalemana and freshman Shannon Scully, the No. 16-ranked Utah Utes closed out non-conference play with a 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-16, 25-22) victory over the Utah Valley Wolverines.

Luafalemana finished the evening totaling a career-high 18 kills, while recording no hitting errors to hit a career-high .857 on the night. Scully chipped in a career-high 15 kills on .462 hitting. Scully also recorded her first career double-double, tallying 13 digs against the Wolverines.

Both Luafalemana and senior Adora Anae have now hit .750 or better in a match this season without committing any errors.

Utah Valley jumped out to an early lead to begin the match and forced Utah to call a timeout trailing 10-5. The Utes pulled within two points, trailing 18-16, midway through the frame after a kill from Luafalemana, who would go on to tally eight kills on a .889 hitting percentage in the first set. Leading 20-17, Utah Valley closed out the set outscoring Utah 5-2 to take the first set, 25-19.

The second set went back-and-forth until Scully recorded a kill when the Utes were trailing 16-15 to spark a 5-1 run, forcing Utah Valley to call a timeout trailing 20-17. Utah continued its momentum out of the timeout to close out the frame on another 5-1 run to win 25-18 and even the match at 1-1. Utah hit .556 in the frame, while Scully chipped in four kills on five attempts with no hitting errors.

Out of the intermission, Utah jumped out to a 6-0 lead coming from two kills and a block from Luafalemana, along with three kills from senior Carly Trueman. The Utes extended the lead to 11-3 with back-to-back kills by freshman Dani Barton, followed by a block from junior Berkeley Oblad. Utah Valley chipped away at the Ute lead to pull within four points at 15-11, but Utah would put together a 5-1 run to take a commanding 20-12 lead. Utah went on to clinch the third set 25-16 with a kill from freshman Kenzie Koerber.

Utah came out to a hot start in the fourth set, leading 7-0 early. The Utes led 13-4, but the Wolverines wouldn't go away quietly. Utah Valley went on a 13-4 run to even the set up at 17-17. Tied 18-18, Luafalemana recorded back-to-back kills, followed by consecutive kills from Scully gave the Utes a 4-0 run to lead the set 22-18. Another Scully kill would close out the set to give Utah a 25-22 win and take the match 3-1.

Sophomore Bailey Choy posted her fourth double-double of the season and 14^th of her career, tallying 54 assists and 11 digs. Choy also recorded back-to-back 50-plus assist games after dishing out 54 assists last night against BYU.

Trueman and Barton also tallied double-digit kills on the night. Trueman finished with 14 kills, while Barton totaled 10 kills. Sophomore Torre Glasker also chipped in a season-high 11 digs and freshman Kristen Abels added 9 digs for Utah.

Utah opens Pac-12 play with a pair of matches against Colorado and California next weekend. The Utes face Colorado on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Huntsman Center and close out the weekend on Sunday against California at 2 p.m.