Oct. 1, 2011
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - The Utah Valley women's volleyball team started its 2011 Great West Conference season with a bang on Saturday by defeating the two-time defending conference champion North Dakota Fighting Sioux 3-1 on the road (25-14, 26-24, 15-25, 25-16).
The victory was the Wolverines (11-6, 1-0) first in Grand Forks, N.D., and it snapped UND's (12-4, 0-1) seven match winning streak.
"The girls were well prepared and executed very well today," Wolverine head coach Sam Atoa said. "They came in here determined that nothing was going to stop them from playing well and I'm proud of them. We talked about making good choices when things got tough and that's what they did as they played an awesome match."
Seniors Chelsey Heaps and Jaicee Kuresa led the way offensively for the Wolverines as they each tallied 11 kills apiece. Heaps also added a double-double with a team-high 17 digs. Fellow senior Sarah Clement too had a big match as she finished with eight kills and a match-high seven block assists.
"The way that Chelsey and Jaicee swung for us this afternoon was huge," Atoa added. "Sarah too had an excellent match for us at both ends of the net. Her play really disrupted what they (UND) wanted to do. Their play helped us look like we were a step ahead all match long."
UVU stunned the preseason GWC favorite Fighting Sioux in the opening set as they cruised to a 25-14 win. UND opened with a 1-0 advantage but the Wolverines answered with six unanswered points to pull ahead 6-1. After a Heaps kill the Wolverines later broke the set open by taking a 18-10 lead. UVU finished the set off on a service ace from McKenna Tait. Kuresa led the Wolverines in the opener with four kills.
The Wolverines carried their momentum into the second set as they broke open a quick five-point lead at 8-3 after a UND attack error. UVU held its advantage until the Sioux rallied to tie the set at 17-all. The set then went back-and-forth the rest of the way until the Wolverines were able to capitalize off of two straight Fighting Sioux errors to win the set at 26-24. Heaps paced UVU with five kills in the second while Clement added four kills and four blocks. UVU also outhit UND in the set .303 to .133.
The third set stayed close in the beginning but UND used a 9-0 run in the middle to take control and take an 18-9 lead. The Fighting Sioux went on to win the set by 10 points. Devin Trefz helped UND win the set as she had eight of her match-high 13 kills in the set.
The Wolverines bounced back in the fourth set and looked strong in the beginning by going up 4-0 after an Erica Nish ace. UVU later led 10-5 after a Kalani Norris and Nish block assist. North Dakota hung around for a while and got within three 13-10 but UVU broke the set and match open by scoring eight of the next nine points to lead 21-11. The Wolverines later finished the set and the match on consecutive kills from Nish and Norris.
Nish and Norris too had strong matches for UVU by tallying eight and seven respective kills. Nish also added a match-high three service aces in the win.
The match ended a month long nine-match road stretch for the Wolverines. UVU will now come home to continue its conference season by hosting Chicago State on Oct. 6 and NJIT on Oct. 8.
