Utah Volleyball Bounces Back, Sweeps NC State on Saturday

Saturday, August 26

Orem, UT

12:00 PM

University of Utah

1-1,0-0Pac-12

North Carolina State

1-1,0-0ACC

Utah

NC State

Utah Volleyball Bounces Back, Sweeps NC State on Saturday

8/26/2023 3:35 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

OREM, Utah – Utah Volleyball bounced back from last night's loss in sweeping fashion, downing NC State in three sets (26-24, 25-22, 25-18) at Lockhart Arena in Orem, Utah. The Utes hit .290 in the win, led by Lauren Jardine's 14 kills on .357 hitting and KJ Burgess' seven kills on .600 hitting.

Utah pulled ahead 8-2 to open the first set, but saw the lead slowly slip away as NC State eventually pulled with one point, 15-14. The teams traded a few points before a 5-0 run from the Wolf Pack set the Utes back 20-17 late in the frame. A kill from Rianne Vos stopped the run, and after Utah scored two of the next three points, NC State called a timeout with the lead sitting at 21-10 in its favor.

After a kill from the Wolf Pack, Utah used a 3-1 run to even the score 23-23. NC State earned set point with a kill, but Kamryn Gibadlo countered with a kill of her own to tie the score once again. Gibadlo stepped behind the service line and recorded an ace for Utah's first set point. Vos finished the set with a kill to win the frame 26-24 and hand Utah the 1-0 lead in the match. Utah tallied five blocks in the opening set with Jardine and Burgess each recording three.

The second set picked up where the first frame left off with little separation until a quick run pushed the Wolf Pack ahead 15-11 at the media timeout. However, Utah managed to chip away at the lead and eventually tie the second set 17-17. After a timeout from NC State, the teams went point for point until Utah scored four of the final five points in the frame, which included four kills by four different Utes, to win 25-22.

Utah jumped out to a 8-3 lead in the third set, which forced NC State to burn an early timeout. The Wolf Pack cut the lead to just three points later on, but Utah used a 9-1 run to blow open the lead at 20-9. The Utes gave up a spurt of points toward the end of the set, but the damage was done and a kill from Vos and Ella Biggs would wrap up the set 25-18 to complete the sweep.

Along with the offensive efforts from Jardine and Burgess, both Utes recorded career highs in blocks. Burgess posted a career-best eight blocks to lead both teams, while Jardine added seven blocks. Gibadlo posted nine kills and a team-high two aces. Allie Olsen chipped in six kills with no errors at a .500 clip and four blocks, and Vos also added six kills and nine digs.

Viktoria Wahlgren dished out 35 assists in the sweep to lead the Utah offense, while adding six digs and four blocks. Vanessa Ramirez tallied a whopping 22 digs, which is just one shy of matching a school record for most digs in a three set match in the rally-scoring era. Jardine and Burgess were named to the All-Tournament Team. Jardine averaged 4.43 kills per set, while Burgess averaged 2.29 kills per set on .500 hitting and led the team with 1.86 blocks per set this weekend.

Utah Volleyball remains on the road for a mid-week match at Utah State this Wednesday, Aug. 30. The Utes and Aggies are set for first serve at 6 p.m. MT in Logan. Then, Utah welcomes UNLV for its 2023 home opener in the Jon M. Huntsman Center on Friday, Sept. 1. The match will begin at 7 p.m. MT on Pac-12 Insider.