Nov. 21, 2008

OREM, Utah - The Utah Valley University women's volleyball team (11-12) won its first match of the 2008 NCAA Division I Independent Championship in three sets (31-29, 25-20, 25-10) against Providence (15-18) Friday afternoon.

The Wolverines are in the top seed and Providence the fifth seed in the tournament hosted by Utah Valley. Junior Kristin Anderson led all hitters with 11 kills on 16 swings in the match. Freshman Faith Tusieseina was close behind with her first double-digit kill performance of her career with 10 kills on 11 swings with no attack errors. Junior Allyce Wilson led the Wolverine defense with 14 digs.

There were a total of 14 tied scores and six lead changes in the first set. Eleven of those tied scores came after the set was knotted at 17-17. The Wolverines fought off four Providence set points before earning four more themselves, the last of which sealed the set 31-29. Anderson led all attackers with six kills on eight swings. Sophomore Kayli Broadbent and freshman Sarah Clement each had five kills in the set as well. Wilson also tallied nine digs in the set.

Tusieseina led the Wolverine attack in the second set putting away all for sets that came her way. She recorded the first three kills and the last point for Utah Valley in a 25-20 second-set win. Utah valley hit .346, while Providence was not far behind with a .300 attack percentage.

Four freshman started the third set for the Wolverines in a 25-10 victory. As a team, UVU hit .625 with 12 kills and only two errors while holding Providence to a .000 attack percentage with four kills and four attack errors. Freshman Chelsey Garfield led all hitters with four kills on five swings.

The first two matches of the day saw NJIT sweep Providence and Cal State Bakersfield sweep Texas-Pan American. CSUB will face NJIT at 4:30 before Utah Valley meets UTPA in the last match of the day at 7 p.m. The tournament will continue with five more matches on Saturday.