Sept. 14, 2007
Ann Arbor, Michigan - Utah Valley dropped its second straight match at the Michigan/Nike Invitational, falling 3-0 (28-30, 24-30, 21-30) to ACC school Georgia Tech.
Kayli Broadbent had 14 kills as the freshman led three Wolverines with double figures in kills. Jessica Endres had 12 kills while Camie Manwill had 11.
Dani Robison had four kills in 11 chances for the Wolverines and hit a team-best .364.
"We just got beat by the better team today," said head coach Sam Atoa. "I expect us to re-group and bounce back tomorrow with a much better showing. We are a better team than we are showing right not."
It's the third straight loss overall for Utah Valley, now 5-4 on the year, while the Yellowjackets improved to 6-3.
The Wolverines dug themselves a hole in game one, falling behind 24-19. But UV fought its way back, eventually trimming the lead to one on two separate occasions before Georgia Tech won it on a Callie Miller kill.
Utah Valley led for two-thirds of game two but the Yellowjackets closed out the game on a 13-4 run to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
Georgia Tech had control throughout game three, leading by as much as 10 at one point, on its way to the sweep.
Utah Valley hit .176 overall with the Yellowjackets hitting .199 and taking advantage on eight service aces.
Earlier in the day, Utah Valley fell to #10 Michigan 3-0 (22-30, 21-30, 31-33). Michigan's current standing in the national rankings is the highest for any UV opponent in the school's NCAA history.
"We started very slow but I thought we competed in the second game and made it close in the third against a very tough team," said Atoa. "But we still didn't execute well and made too many mistakes for us to be in the match."
UV stayed close in games one and two until late Michigan runs closed out the Wolverines.
In game three, Utah Valley seemed poised to steal a game, leading by 27-24 and 29-28 before Michigan extended and eventually won the game 33-31.
The Michigan defense limited UV to just a .067 while hitting .245.
Manwill led UV with 14 digs while Allyce Wilson had 23 digs for Utah Valley and Stesha Selsky had 31 for Michigan.
The Wolverines will take on Temple on Saturday at 3pm MT in their final match of the invitational.
