Utah Volleyball Sweeps Arizona for First Pac-12 Win

Saturday, September 24

Salt Lake City, UT

7:00 PM

University of Utah

8-5,1-1Pac-12

Arizona

10-3,0-2Pac-12

Arizona

Utah

Photo by: Axe Tang

Utah Volleyball Sweeps Arizona for First Pac-12 Win

9/24/2022 10:05 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Production from outside hitters and strong defensive effort guides Utah to a win.

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Volleyball team got back in the win column on Saturday night, picking up their first win over a conference foe after downing Arizona in straight sets (25-19, 26-24, 30-28) at the Huntsman Center. Madelyn Robinson and Lauren Jardine combined for 33 kills in the sweep to push Utah to 8-5 overall this season and 1-1 in Pac-12 play.

Utah jumped out to an 8-3 lead early in the first set and held on to the lead despite a rally from Arizona midway through the set. The Wildcats scored six of seven points to eventually tie the frame 13-13. Utah used a 4-0 run to push back ahead 18-14 and held control all the way through. Kills from Jardine and a block from KJ Burgess in the mix broke open the set to 24-17 before Jardine's sixth kill of the set would win it 25-19 for the Utes. Robinson returned to action and her presence was felt immediately as she also posted six kills in the set behind Emily Smith's 14 assists.

The second and third sets played out much tighter as there were 11 tied scores in the second set and 14 ties in the third set, compared to just three in the opening frame. In the second set, Utah trailed 14-13, but five straight points for the Utes gave them the largest lead of the frame. Arizona battled back to trail just 19-18, however, another run of points for Utah extended the lead out to 23-18 following a pair of aces from Emily Smith.

Utah earned set point off a Jardine kill, but Arizona managed to score five straight and even the set 24-24. KJ Burgess earned the sideout with a kill in the middle, before Madelyn Robinson sent one cross-court for the win 26-24. Utah's defense led the efforts in the second set as Vanessa Ramirez collected eight digs, Kamry Bailey and Emily Smith added six digs, while the Utes posted four blocks.

The Utes fell behind to begin the third set and trailed by as many as five points. Utah scored six of seven points to tie the set 12-12, and despite a kill from Arizona to sideout, the Utes responded with four points in a row to gain a 16-13 lead. The Utes held on to the slim lead as the set began winding down, but the Wildcats chipped away and later tied the set 20-20. An attack error pushed Utah back ahead, while Robinson connected on a kill to push the lead to 22-20.

Arizona cut the gap once again and from there both teams went back and forth. The Wildcats held off a Utah match point at 24-23 by scoring two in a row to earn themselves set point at 25-24, but back-to-back Robinson kills pushed Utah out ahead 26-25 for another set point. The two teams traded points from there until Jardine gave Utah what went on to be its fifth and final match point as Arizona sent a ball long to end the set 30-28. Robinson posted an incredible 10 kills on .500 hitting in the third set to lead the team to the sweep.

Robinson finished with a match-best 19 kills on .368 hitting after missing the previous three matches, while also adding eight digs. Jardine matched a career-best 14 kills, while Allie Olsen tallied eight kills on .467 hitting with three blocks. Smith led the offense with 35 assists and also recorded 12 digs for her sixth double-double of the year.

Leading another tremendous defensive effort was Ramirez, who finished with 20 digs, which was her fifth match this season of at least 20 digs. Kamry Bailey totaled 14 digs and KJ Burgess added three blocks to tie for the team high with Olsen.

Utah hits the road for Pac-12 play next weekend, traveling to Los Angeles to take on UCLA and USC. The Utes will open road action on Friday, Sept. 30, against UCLA at 8 p.m. MT in Pauley Pavilion. Then on Sunday, Oct. 2, the Utes will close out play against USC at 2 p.m. MT in the Galen Center.