Sept. 30, 2010

VERMILLION, S.D. - Utah Valley's women's volleyball team was cooled off Thursday evening in Vermillion, S.D., as it fell to the University of South Dakota 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 15-25, 24-26). The win for USD (3-15, 1-1) snapped a 14-match losing streak for the Coyotes, while the loss for UVU (9-7, 1-1) ended a stretch where the Wolverines won nine of 11 matches.

UVU won the first set before USD got hot and won the next three to win the match.

"They were the better team tonight," said UVU head coach Sam Atoa. "USD played much better than we did and they deserved to win. It was unfortunate that we were unable to execute. Our confidence was shaken a little bit but hopefully we can learn from this and move on."

With the score all squared up at 14-all in the first set, the Wolverines went on a run scoring seven unanswered points to take a 21-14 advantage. USD managed to get within three at 22-19 but UVU took the first set, winning it by four. In the set, the Wolverines outhit the Coyotes .281 - .107.

In the second and third sets, the Coyotes rebounded as they went on to win both. In the third set, UVU and USD were all tied up at 12, when the momentum shifted in favor of South Dakota as it scored 12 consecutive points and won the set by 10.

Trailing 21-13 in the fourth set, the Wolverines battled back by scoring the next eight points to tie it at 21-all. The scoring then went back and forth from there until 24-all. The Coyotes then managed to put the match away in four as they won the final set 26-24.

Junior Sarah Clement led UVU offensively in the loss as she tallied double figures with 13 kills and hit at a .258 percentage. Junior Chelsey Heaps finished second in kills with nine. Senior libero Kathleen Stevens posted a match-high in digs with 22, while Heaps added 11.

Kristin Kritenbrink led the Coyotes in kills as she posted a match-high of 20.

The Wolverines will now travel up to Grand Forks, N.D., to take on the 2009 GWC Champion North Dakota Fighting Sioux Saturday at 6 p.m. MT (7 CT). The last time UVU and UND went head-to-head was in last year's GWC title match in Houston, Texas.

"I was hoping that we would continue to play well on the road and it would help us as we lead into the UND match," Atoa added. "Now it's going to be a tougher road for us to get ourselves back mentally but it's definitely doable. We are going to see what we are made of as we approach Saturday's match."