Oct. 31, 2009
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Utah Valley fell out of first place in the Great West Conference volleyball standings Saturday with a 25-20, 21-25, 18-25, 25-23, 13-15 loss to North Dakota.
With the loss, the Wolverines (17-9) are 7-2 in league play and in a tie with NJIT (5-2) with three matches remaining. UVU will play at Houston Baptist and Texas-Pan American next week before hosting NJIT on Nov. 12 in the final regular-season match of the season.
In the fourth set with her team trailing 23-20, UVU's Camie Manwill recorded four straight kills in a 5-0 UVU run to force the deciding set.
UVU didn't take its first led of the deciding set until two kills each by Kayli Broadbent and Faith Tusieseina to make it 12-11. UND rallied to lead 14-12 and Tusieseina recorded another kill to pull the Wolverines back to within a point before UND won it one point later with a kill.
"We made a nice comeback in the fourth set and did some good things. We had our chances to win in the fifth set but we made some big, big mistakes down at the end that cost us," UVU volleyball coach Sam Atoa said. "We've got to figure out what we have to do to win the tight matches."
Broadbent led the Wolverines with 22 kills and 20 digs, while Manwill added 14 kills and 16 digs for her 11th double-double of he season in the loss. Allyce Jones recorded 34 digs and Chelsea Fa'alogo notched 54 assists. Kathleen Stevens had three service aces and 12 digs.
In the first set, UVU started strong as Broadbent delivered four kills in the first six points as UVU jumped out to a 6-2 lead. A kill by Jaicee Kuresa increased the Wolverines' lead to six before the Fighting Sioux began to come back.
After two more kills by Broadbent and a kill by Dani Robison, who had a season-high eight kills in the match, UVU led 17-12, but the Fighting Sioux scored five straight points to tie the score at 17-17. An attack error UND, a service ace by Robison and a kill by Fa'alogo built the Wolverines' lead back to 20-17. The UVU rally continued with another UND error and a kill by Manwill.
Kills by Manwill and Kuresa and an error by UND led to UVU's 25-20 first-set victory.
Broadbent had seven kills (.545) in the first set, while Manwill had three and Robison and Kuresa had two each.
Neither team led by more than two points in the second set before Robison and Broadbent had back-to-back kills to give UVU a 9-7 lead. UND rallied to take a 16-13 lead.
UVU scored three straight points on two errors by UND and a kill by Broadbent, but the Fighting Sioux rallied for five straight points to lead 21-16 and UVU wouldn't recover in losing 25-21.
The third set was tied seven times (and UVU led by a point on two separate occasions) before UND built a 17-14 lead and eventually pulled away for the 25-18 set win.
Broadbent had five kills in the set and Erica Nish, who finished with seven kills, had a pair.
After two kills by Manwill and kills by Fa'alogo and Broadbent and an UND attack error UVU tied the score in the fourth set at 15-all. The set was tied six more times before UND led 23-20.
Manwill recorded four consecutive kills and Robison finished off the rally and the set with a kill for the 25-23 UVU win for force the deciding set.
