Nov. 20, 2010
CHICAGO - Utah Valley University won the first two games against South Dakota in the semifinals of the Great West Conference volleyball tournament Saturday, but the Coyotes fought back and won the next three in eliminating the Wolverines 10-25, 17-25, 25-21, 38-36, 15-7.
"We had chances. We had set points and match points but we weren't able to get the breaks that we needed. We got out late in the fifth set and it's too bad because I thought we were playing some very good ball, especially in the first and third sets," UVU volleyball coach Sam Atoa said.
The Wolverines cruised in the first two games.
With the Wolverines leading 5-4, Lanni O'Reilly reeled off four straight points to increase the lead to 9-4 and essentially put Game 1 out of reach. Chelsey Heaps then followed with seven straight points making it 17-5 UVU.
The Wolverines (21-11) eventually won the first game 25-10 on a kill by Dani Robison, who had four kills in the set.
Brookelyn Campbell, Kayli Doxey and Kathleen Stevens served the Wolverines out to a 10-2 lead in Game 2. The Coyotes, however, wouldn't get any close than six points the remainder of the game.
Jaicee Kuresa had five kills in the set and Doxey and Heaps had four each and Sarah Clement had three in giving UVU the 2-0 lead in the match.
Utah Valley trailed by as many as five points early in Game 3 before fighting back to tie the score at 13-13 on a kill by Erica Nish. After tying the match at 17-17, an error by USD and a kill by Heaps gave UVU a two-point advantage.
With the score tied at 20-20, USD scored three straight points and the Wolverines wouldn't recover in losing 25-21.
The Game 4, USD led by as many as five points at 16-11, and three points at 23-20 before the Wolverines rallied to tie the match at 24-24 on a kill Heaps, a USD hitting error and a kill by Robison.
Before USD eventually won 38-36, UVU had eight opportunities to win it and USD had three before rattling off the final two points to win the game and force the deciding Game 5.
"We ran out of subs and even with that, we weren't able to execute," Atoa said. "South Dakota was the better team tonight and we have to give them credit."
USD scored the first five points in the fifth game, and UVU couldn't recover. UVU trailed by as many as nine at 12-3 before mounting a mini rally before falling 15-7.
Doxey led the Wolverines with 19 kills and Heaps had 18 kills and 12 digs, while Robison, who has a solo block and six block assists, and Kuresa had 11 kills each. Stevens tallied 31 digs and O'Reilly had 15 digs and three service aces. Campbell tallied 61 assists and 10 digs.
Robison was named to the GWC All-Tournament team.
