Oct. 8, 2009

CHICAGO - The Utah Valley University Wolverines started off their first Great West Conference road trip of the season on a positive note Thursday night with a 25-9, 25-9, 25-19 victory over Chicago State.

With their seventh win in a row, the Wolverines improve to 4-0 in GWC play and remain in a first-place tie with NJIT (12-5, 3-0)

UVU (12-5, 4-0) and NJIT will square off Saturday at 3 p.m. MT in Newark, New Jersey. The Wolverines are 2-0 all-time against the Highlanders.

"It's going to be a challenge for us as is any road match because of the distractions that come with playing on the road," UVU volleyball coach Sam Atoa said. "If we can keep focused I expect us to do well."

Sophomore OH Chelsey Garfield paced the Wolverines with 10 kills in the victory over Chicago State (0-16, 0-5). Junior MB Dani Robison and senior OH Camie Manwill added six kills, while junior OH Kayli Broadbent added five kills and four digs. Jaicee Kuresa finished with four kills.

Senior S Allyce Jones recorded 17 digs and sophomore S Rachel Anderson and sophomore S Chelsea Fa'alogo added 18 and 16 assists, respectively. Anderson's total was a new career high.

The Wolverines hit at .415 with Manwill hitting at .750 (eight attacks), Broadbent hitting at .625 (eight attacks) and Garfield (18 attacks) and Robison (10 attacks) hit at .500.

"We set some goals to help us be focused in the areas of the game we wanted to improve in and get better at," Atoa said. "We did a nice job in being able to do those things."

Garfield served the first six points in the first set to build a 6-0 lead and the Wolverines never looked back. Jones served the final four points for the 25-9 set victory.

Robison had four kills in the second set to lead UVU. Kathleen Stevens served seven straight points as the Wolverines surged out to a 14-4 advantage. UVU's Faith Tusieseina closed out the set with a kill.

UVU jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the final set, but the Cougars battled back and pulled to within a point at 17-16 before the Wolverines pulled away. Lanni O'Reilly, who finished with a season-high four kills, had two kills and Erica Nish, Sarah Clement and Garfield had one each down the stretch in the 25-19 set win.

The Wolverines are now 4-0 all-time against Chicago State.

Following their match with NJIT, the Wolverines return home for a pair of matches starting with Utah State on Tuesday, Oct. 13 and Texas-Pan American on Thursday, Oct. 15. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Shurian Family Activity Center.