CORVALLIS – Utah volleyball secured a huge five-set road win (25-20, 22-25, 25-14, 22-25, 15-10) against the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis, Oregon on Friday, November 16.
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After OSU pushed the match to a fifth set, the Utes needed a spark and junior setter
Bailey Choy provided it having three aces in a row to put Utah up 5-1.
Dani Drews took over from there closing the match with the Utes last five kills to secure the hard-fought victory.
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Drews finished the match with 24 kills hitting .333 and 18 digs. Choy also had a huge match to go along with those aces finishing with 52 assists and 11 digs.
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The Utes had a strong start in the first doubling up the Beavers early at 8-4. Utah's lead grew to as big as seven by hitting .357 in the opening frame with 19 kills and only four errors.
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In the second set, Oregon State was the team that controlled the set, but Utah continued to make comebacks. Late in the set, the Utes went on a 5-1 run tying things up at 22 forcing Oregon State to use a timeout. Out of the timeout, the Beavers won the final three points to even the match up. A big part of the second set was Oregon State having eight blocks.
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Utah bounced back in a big way in the third set taking it 25-14. In that set, the Utes had 14 kills and zero errors hitting .424.
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The Utes had visions of taking the match in four, but Oregon State closed it out winning two straight points after Utah had gotten within one late.
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After Choy had the three aces in a row, it gave Utah just enough momentum and a comfortable lead to keep pushing and quiet the home crowd. This was Utah's 10th five-set match this season. That is the most in program history in a season.
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In all, four Utah players had double-doubles. Along with Choy and Drews,
Kenzie Koerber and
Megan Yett totaled double-digit kills and digs. Koerber also came up big on the block finishing with 7.0.
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The middles also had a good night as
Lauren Sproule had eight kills hitting .375.
Kennedi Evans led the team in blocks with 8.0.
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Brianna Doehrmann finished with her eighth 20-dig match of the season having 21 against Oregon State.
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With this big win, Utah now has two matches left in the regular season. First, they will be on the road at USC next Wednesday, November 21 at 4 p.m. MT. Then, Utah will honor
Lauga Gauta on Senior Day against Colorado on Friday, November 23 at noon.
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