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The University of Utah Athletics
Flashback Friday: Drews Sets Single-Match Kills Record Against USC
4/10/2020 2:07 PM | Volleyball
Posts 33 Kills Hitting .348 in Five-Set Win Over Trojans
Locked in. In the zone. Focused.
When you're an AVCA First Team All-American, you have some great matches and moments through the season. For Dani Drews, one of those matches came at USC in what proved to be a big weekend as the team beat the Trojans and UCLA on the road.
In the five-set match against USC, Drews broke Utah's single-match kills record with 33 kills while hitting .348 to lead the Utes to a marathon victory over the Trojans.
What does it feel like? It's almost as hard to put into words as it is to reach that level of focus consistently in a match.
"I remember that it was kind of one of those times it felt like nothing could go wrong," Drews said. "I definitely was in the zone, and I wasn't letting any outside influences affect what was going through my mind or what I was doing on the court."
Moments or matches like this are special and they don't happen very often, but when they do, they're remembered by the player and those that are lucky enough to watch it.
Against the Trojans, Drews had the winning kill in the fourth set and then went on to have five kills and two aces in the fifth set to help clinch the match for the Utes.
"There are usually moment's I'm in that zone and then times where I can fall out of it and try and get myself back to that place," Drews said. "For that match, I felt like I was in it the entire time. That's happened a few other times, but it's definitely something I want to continue to work on to be consistently present in the moment and ready for the next play."
The match itself went to five sets with three of the five going into extra points. Drews was going back and forth with their best player, Khalia Lanier, who ended up with 40 kills for the match.
"I don't know if Lanier having a really good match played into it," Drews said. "During that game, I was just in disbelief that everything she touched was a kill. Even if it was just a roll shot over the net, it would fall. I wasn't frustrated, but I couldn't believe it. I really had no idea that I was even close to the amount of kills she had until Beth mentioned something about it on the bench."
In the Pac-12, you face elite players every single match. Drews just tries to have fun when she's playing to help her team be successful.
"I'm someone that is focused during a match, but I'm also someone that really enjoys the game," Drews said. "If you watch I'm smiling all the time and just having a good time. It's easy in volleyball when I make a couple of mistakes to get frustrated with myself just as an example. Little things like that just didn't matter that day. I was so present and in the moment and going play to play. I wasn't worried about past mistakes or future mistakes, but just enjoying the match."
Ultimately, all of this is driven by the team and when Drews thinks about when the team is clicking, it gives her goose bumps.
"This was a different match, but if you watched our BYU game at the end of the season that was the most in the zone that our entire team had collectively been in," Drews said. "I thought it was great and thinking back to that game still gives me chills with how well we played."
When you're an AVCA First Team All-American, you have some great matches and moments through the season. For Dani Drews, one of those matches came at USC in what proved to be a big weekend as the team beat the Trojans and UCLA on the road.
In the five-set match against USC, Drews broke Utah's single-match kills record with 33 kills while hitting .348 to lead the Utes to a marathon victory over the Trojans.
What does it feel like? It's almost as hard to put into words as it is to reach that level of focus consistently in a match.
"I remember that it was kind of one of those times it felt like nothing could go wrong," Drews said. "I definitely was in the zone, and I wasn't letting any outside influences affect what was going through my mind or what I was doing on the court."
Moments or matches like this are special and they don't happen very often, but when they do, they're remembered by the player and those that are lucky enough to watch it.
Against the Trojans, Drews had the winning kill in the fourth set and then went on to have five kills and two aces in the fifth set to help clinch the match for the Utes.
"There are usually moment's I'm in that zone and then times where I can fall out of it and try and get myself back to that place," Drews said. "For that match, I felt like I was in it the entire time. That's happened a few other times, but it's definitely something I want to continue to work on to be consistently present in the moment and ready for the next play."
The match itself went to five sets with three of the five going into extra points. Drews was going back and forth with their best player, Khalia Lanier, who ended up with 40 kills for the match.
"I don't know if Lanier having a really good match played into it," Drews said. "During that game, I was just in disbelief that everything she touched was a kill. Even if it was just a roll shot over the net, it would fall. I wasn't frustrated, but I couldn't believe it. I really had no idea that I was even close to the amount of kills she had until Beth mentioned something about it on the bench."
In the Pac-12, you face elite players every single match. Drews just tries to have fun when she's playing to help her team be successful.
"I'm someone that is focused during a match, but I'm also someone that really enjoys the game," Drews said. "If you watch I'm smiling all the time and just having a good time. It's easy in volleyball when I make a couple of mistakes to get frustrated with myself just as an example. Little things like that just didn't matter that day. I was so present and in the moment and going play to play. I wasn't worried about past mistakes or future mistakes, but just enjoying the match."
Ultimately, all of this is driven by the team and when Drews thinks about when the team is clicking, it gives her goose bumps.
"This was a different match, but if you watched our BYU game at the end of the season that was the most in the zone that our entire team had collectively been in," Drews said. "I thought it was great and thinking back to that game still gives me chills with how well we played."
Players Mentioned
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