Nov. 10, 2006

Fargo, North Dakota - Utah Valley State continued to play its best volleyball of the season, sweeping South Dakota State 30-28, 30-21, 30-25 to win its sixth straight match and advance to Saturday's championship match at the Division-I Independent Championships in Fargo, North Dakota.

After making quick work of Providence (30-14, 30-14, 30-8) in their first match of the tournament, the Wolverines beat a tough SDSU team to advance to the championship match for the second straight year.

Utah Valley will have a chance to defend its 2005 D-I Independent Championship on Saturday at 7pm MT against IPFW, winners of a five-game marathon over host North Dakota State earlier in the evening.

Live game stats and streaming video can be accessed by going to North Dakota State's Athletic website at www.GoBison.com. The live stats are free and the video can be seen via subscription.

"For us to win like that against a very good team says a lot about how we are playing right now. The girls wanted it today and there's no question they'll want it again tomorrow," said head coach Sam Atoa. "It's going to be a tough match against IPFW, but if we continue to execute our game plan we have a good shot."

Camie Manwill led a balanced attack of with 13 kills. Jessica Endres had a double double of 12 kills and 13 digs with Terin Ledall adding nine kills and Brooke Adams chipping in seven. Lacee Koelliker finished with 42 assists on the night and passed the 4,000 assist mark for her career.

In game one Utah Valley got off to a quick start, using a 9-3 spurt to take a 13-6 lead. After eventually stretching the lead to nine, the Wolverines held a 28-20 advantage and seemed poised to cruise to a 1-0 lead.

But the Jacks fought their way back, scoring seven straight points to cut the lead to one on a Kristie Klusaw kill. Terin Ledall put the Wolverines up 29-27 with a kill and following a service error by UV to cut it again to one, Endres finally ended it with a kill, giving Utah Valley a 1-0 edge.

Game two again saw the Wolverines jumping out quickly, creating some space between them and the Jacks. They steadily built the lead up to 11 at 26-15 on a Brooke Adams kill and closed out game two on an Ashley Dallin kill.

In game three the Jacks built a four point advantage on three separate occasions, the latest being at 21-17. From there the Wolverines went on a 6-0 run to take a 23-21 lead on an Endres kill. The teams traded points until UV took a three point lead at 27-24 on another Endres kill. From there Utah Valley scored on a SDSU error, a Koelliker kill and a Jack service error to move on to the championship.

In the earlier match against Providence, Manwill tied a school record with six service aces as the Wolverines set a new record with 15 service aces as a team. She also had 12 kills to lead the team while Terin Ledall had 10 kills and set a school record by hitting .833 in a match with 19 or fewer attempts.

"The girls played very well. They challenged themselves and were very focused on capitalizing with they had the chance," said head coach Sam Atoa.

The overall margin of victory was the largest in school history with the 30-8 win in game three the largest single game margin of victory in school history.

The Wolverines hit .416 for the match while holding Providence to just an -.081 percentage. UV had 49 kills for the match compared to just 15 from the Friars.