Oct. 10, 2009
NEWARK, New Jersey - Utah Valley (12-6, 4-1) had its seven-match winning streak snapped Saturday night with a five-set 18-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-18, 11-15 loss to league-leading NJIT (13-5, 4-0).
With the loss, the Wolverines fall into second place in Great West Conference play.
After losing the first two sets, the Wolverines fought back and forced the deciding set.
Camie Manwill and Kayli Broadbent had four and two kills each in the first six points of the deciding set as UVU led 6-4. NJIT followed with a 9-1 run to take control of the set and match at 13-7.
Utah Valley answered with a rally with a kill by Broadbent, a service ace by Allyce Jones and an error by NJIT to cut the lead to 13-10.
With the score 14-11, NJIT closed out the set and match with a kill.
"I didn't think we came prepared to play and it took us a little while to get things going. You have to hand it to NJIT. They were prepared to play," UVU volleyball coach Sam Atoa said. "I thought we did some really good things in the third and fourth sets and then we got a little tentative in the fifth set."
In the loss, Broadbent led the Wolverines with a season-high 23 kills, while Manwill added 17. Sarah Clement had six kills, while Dani Robison and Jaicee Kuresa had five each. Jones led the Wolverines with a season-high 35 digs and Chelsea Fa'alogo had a career-high 53 assists. Also, Kathleen Stevens had four service aces.
The Wolverines are now 2-1 all-time against the Highlanders.
Utah Valley, which hadn't gone to a fifth set all year, led 4-1 early in the first set, but the Highlanders scored five of the next seven points to take the lead for good. The Wolverines pulled back to within a point at 12-11 before the Highlanders scored seven of the next eight points to take total control. The Highlanders had four service aces in the opening set.
Broadbent had five kills in the first set and Robison and Manwill had two.
The Wolverines trailed 5-0 but fought their way back and tied the score at 19-19.
When trailing 17-13, Broadbent reeled off three straight kills, and an NJIT attack error, and the Wolverines trailed 18-16.
After a kill by NJIT, Manwill had two kills and Jones had a service ace to knot the score at 19-19. The Highlanders, however, took advantage of two UVU attack errors, a service ace and a kill to lead 23-19.
After a kill by Manwill to cut the lead to 23-20, the Highlanders got back-to-back kills to win the set.
After hitting .171 in the first set the Wolverines hit at just .071 in the second set. Manwill and Broadbent had four kills each in the set.
Kuresa had two kills early in the third set as UVU led 5-2. Later, Broadbent added back-to-back kills to increase the lead to 7-3. After NJIT scored two straight points, Manwill and Clement strung together back-to-back kills to increase the lead back to four.
The Wolverines led 23-22 and Broadbent and Fa'alogo had consecutive kills to close out the set. Broadbent finished with six kills in the set and Clement had three. UVU hit at .245 in the third set.
The Wolverines took control of the fourth set early and led by as many as eight points. At 20-12. Broadbent and Manwill had a huge set with five kills each. Kathleen Stevens had two service aces and Broadbent had one.
The Wolverines are back in action Tuesday night when they host Utah State at 7 p.m. at the Shurian Family Activity Center. The game can be seen live on UVU-TV.
Following Thuesday's non-conference match with the Aggies - a team Utah Valley baet 3-1 earlier in the year - the Wolverines jump back into league play when they host Texas-Pan American on Thursday night.
