Oct. 23, 2009
OREM, Utah - Utah Valley ran its Great West Conference record to 6-1 and upped its overall record to 16-7 with a 25-12, 25-17, 25-16 victory over Houston Baptist Friday night.
UVU's Kayli Broadbent finished with 10 kills and tied a career-high with five service aces, and Camie Manwill and Chelsea Fa'alogo had five kills each in leading the Wolverines to their fourth straight victory.
"The girls played well all around," UVU volleyball coach Sam Atoa said. "They (the Huskies) were prepared and they knew what they were going to do, but they had a hard time doing it because our serving was very tough."
The Wolverines finished with 10 service aces. Along with Broadbent's five, Lanni O'Reilly had three and Manwill and Fa'alogo had one each.
With the win the Wolverines are now in a first-place tie in the GWC with North Dakota and NJIT. North Dakota sweep NJIT Thursday.
Utah Valley put the first set away in a hurry against Houston Baptist when Broadbent served six straight points to give the Wolverines a 12-3 lead. The Wolverines went up by 10 points on the second of two kills by Sarah Clement in the set.
Manwill led the Wolverines with three kills in the set, while Clement, Broadbent, Erica Nish and Fa'alogo had two each. Nish also had three block assists.
The Wolverines hit at .400 in the set.
With her team trailing 13-12, Broadbent recorded back-to-back aces and three total in a 6-0 UVU run. After a HBU (5-11, 3-6) point, O'Reilly recoded back-to-back aces to increase the lead to 21-14.
UVU won the set 25-15 on an attack error by the Huskies.
Along with the three aces, Broadbent, the reigning GWC Offensive Player of the Week, had four kills.
The Wolverines led by as many ad first points in the third set before Houston Baptist cut the lead to one at 15-14.
UVU pulled away on kills by Faith Tusieseina, Broadbent and Chelsey Garfield to build a 20-15 lead. Broadbent, Nish and Garfield had kills and Broadbent had a service ace before winning the set and match on a HBU attack error.
Allyce Jones finished with 12 digs and Kathleen Stevens had seven, while Fa'alogo had 28 assists.
Friday's contest was also the nightcap of the Pink With A Purpose weekend for Utah Valley soccer and volleyball. The teams and the UVU athletic department, along with the Second Chance Foundation of Utah, are raising money for nine-year-old Hannah Laursen, who is fighting brain cancer. Hannah and her family were recognized at half time of the soccer match and again in between the second and third set of the volleyball match.
The Wolverines will play their final non-conference match of the season Tuesday night when they travel to BYU. The match with the Cougars is the first of five straight road matches for the Wolverines.
UVU returns to GWC action Oct. 29 and Oct. 31 when the Wolverines visit South Dakota and North Dakota, respectively.
