Sept. 1, 2011
UVU Volleyball Notes
OREM, Utah -- The Utah Valley women's volleyball team will host its second consecutive tournament in as many weeks when it welcomes No. 24 Michigan, Cal Poly and Santa Clara to Orem this weekend for the La Quinta Inn & Suites Invitational.
Cal Poly and Santa Clara will kick-off the tournament Friday at 4:30 p.m. in the Activity Center and the UVU Wolverines will play their first match at 7 p.m. when they host the Michigan Wolverines. On Saturday Michigan will face Santa Clara at 10 a.m., UVU will play Cal Poly at 12 p.m., Michigan will take on Cal Poly at 4:30 p.m. and UVU and Santa Clara will conclude the tournament with a match at 7 p.m.
All UVU matches this weekend will be aired live locally on UVU-TV. Every match will also be streamed live online at www.UVU.edu/UVUTV . Live stats for all can too be found at WolverineGreen.com.
Despite dropping an exhibition contest to Nova KBM Branik -- a professional club team from Slovenia -- on Wednesday night the Wolverines will be ready to go when they square off against Michigan on Friday.
"We have a chance anytime we play at home," UVU head coach Sam Atoa said. "We have a good young team and it's great for us to play teams of this caliber. People need to know who Utah Valley is and we are doing a nice job of defending and competing at home against these good programs."
The Wolverines enter play at 2-1 after defeating Illinois State and CSU Bakersfield a week ago. UVU's lone loss came by the hands of Northern Arizona in the Wolverine Invitational title match. Seniors Chelsey Heaps and the reigning Great West Conference Defensive Player of the Week Sarah Clement have led the way early as Heaps posted 39 kills and 28 digs a week ago while Clement had 18 blocks and 25 kills to earn player of the week honors.
About Michigan Wolverines
Michigan will come to Orem with a 3-0 record after defeating Marshall and Morehead State twice last week. In its 39-year history, Michigan volleyball has made 11 NCAA appearances, three trips to the sweet 16 and one to the elite eight (2009). The Big 10 foe Wolverines are led offensively by Lexi Erwin and her team-high 32 kills and 3.56 kill per set average.
About Cal Poly
The Mustangs of Cal Poly will play UVU Saturday at noon. Cal Poly comes to town with a 3-1 record and is currently receiving votes in the AVCA Top-25 poll. The Mustangs have wins over Fresno State, Long Island and Saint Mary's this year while their lone loss came from 20th-ranked San Diego Toreros. Cal Poly was selected to finish second in the Big West this season and is led offensively on the court by Jennifer Keddy and her 63 kills (3.71 kill/set average).
About Santa Clara
The Santa Clara Broncos and Wolverines will meet up in the final match of the La Quinta Inn & Suites Invitational Saturday at 7 p.m. Santa Clara is a member of the West Coast Conference and was recently projected to finish fourth. The Broncos two wins came over Seattle U. and Eastern Washington while their loss came from Washington State last weekend. Katherine Douglas leads the Broncos in kills with 40 and kill per set average with 4.00.
Next up for the Wolverines
UVU will hit the road for the first time in the 2011 season when it plays at the Air Force Invitational Sept. 9-10. There the Wolverines will face Air Force, Northern Arizona and South Carolina Upstate.
