EDINBURG, Texas – The Utah Valley University volleyball team snapped its three-match losing skid with a four-set victory over Texas-Pan American at the UTPA Fieldhouse in Edinburg, Texas, on Thursday evening (25-12, 23-25, 25-21, 25-18).
 
The Wolverines improve to 10-15 on the season and 5-4 in Western Athletic Conference play with the win, while UTPA drops to 5-19 overall and 2-8 in conference play with the loss.
 
"It's tough to play on the road and I thought that the girls did a nice job of staying composed tonight," said head coach Sam Atoa. "We settled down and did what we needed to do after that second set. That's just the name of the game, as we were able to serve and pass the way that we expected to."
 
Sophomore Macky Treanor led the way for UVU with a season-high 19 kills. Treanor also added six digs, two service aces, two blocks and a solid .368 attack percentage in the contest. Junior Lauren Bakker was next for the Wolverines with 12 kills and six blocks while senior Kalani Norris chipped in nine kills, 10 digs and three aces and fellow senior McKenna Tait put up a match-high 24 digs.  
 
With UVU trailing by one early in the opening set, the Wolverines reeled off 10 straight points to take a commanding 12-3 lead. Norris led the run with an ace and a pair of kills. The Wolverines held onto their advantage from there as they cruised to a 25-12 first-set victory.
 
The Wolverines managed to overcome a five-point second-set deficit as they tied the score at 19-all following a 4-0 spurt. UTPA once again took the upper hand however, as it took a 24-21 set-point advantage. UVU countered back with back-to-back kills from Treanor to pull within one but the Broncs finished off the set the very next point on a kill from Diara Reynolds.
 
With the third set all evened up at 11-11, UVU pieced together a 5-1 run to take a 16-12 advantage. The Wolverines pushed their lead to five late as they went on to take a two sets to one advantage with a 25-21 set-three victory.
 
Despite surrendering a five-point advantage early in the fourth set, UVU managed to finish off the match in four sets as it took the final frame by seven points. Utah Valley used an 8-2 run down the stretch to cause some separation in the final set.
 
As a team, the Wolverines held a .250 to .152 hitting percentage advantage as well as a 66 to 51 side-out percentage in the match.
 
With two solo blocks in the contest, Bakker will now enter Saturday's match just one solo block shy of tying Jessica Endres' (2004-07) school record of 46.
 
The Wolverines will continue conference play at New Mexico State on Saturday afternoon. UVU and the second-place Aggies will do battle at the Pan American Center at 1 p.m.
 
"It will be a good challenge for us. I expect us to go in and give New Mexico State a good fight on Saturday," added Atoa.