TEMPE, Ariz. – No. 20 Utah volleyball swept the Arizona State Sun Devils (25-16, 25-22, 25-20) in Wells Fargo Arena to finish off a perfect weekend in the desert.
The win was a complete team effort led by freshman setter
Emily Smith, who finished with 35 assists, 13 digs, seven kills hitting .667 and 3.0 blocks.
The team hit .328 for the match only making 14 errors on the afternoon and forced Arizona State into hitting just .162 on the day.
The Utes came out hot from the start hitting .567 in the first set with 20 kills and three errors. With a three-point lead, Utah closed the set on an 8-2 run to grab the early lead in the match.
Trailing by a set, Arizona State held a lead late in the second, but Utah closed it out strong with a 6-1 run. The Utes kept the Sun Devils close only trailing by two a couple of times and stepped up when they had their chance to go up 2-0.
Utah took an early lead in the third and never relinquished the momentum leading by as much as five. Freshmen
Zoe Weatherington and Smith both got the final two kills to secure the sweep.
This was Utah's fourth sweep in a row over Arizona State and their eighth sweep of this season.
Three Utes had double-figure kills with
Berkeley Oblad leading the team with 12 hitting .391.
Dani Drews and
Zoe Weatherington both had 10 kills as well.
It was also
Kinga Windisch's first start of the season and she chipped in with five kills, four digs and 2.0 blocks.
The win moves Utah to 11-4 on the season and now 3-1 in the Pac-12. Next weekend, the Utes will be hosting UCLA and USC beginning Friday, October 11.
Utah will be honoring head coach
Beth Launiere for coaching in her 30
th season as well as retiring Kim Turner's jersey at the match with UCLA.