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OREM, Utah – Just days after returning home from a road trip in Bakersfield, California, the Utah Valley University volleyball team will head back to CSUB's Icardo Center for the 2014 WAC Championships. The fourth-seeded Wolverines will open the tournament against No. 5 Seattle University in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. MT/7:30 p.m. PT.

"This is what we prepare for," said head coach Sam Atoa. "Everybody starts over this weekend, and one of these six programs will get on a roll and be able to win the conference tournament to advance to the NCAA's.
 
"We've been playing at a level that we feel that we'll be able to do that. We just have to create those opportunities and make things happen for us and if we do that than we'll have a good shot."

UVU earned the four-seed for the conference tournament after tying for fourth place in the WAC this season. The Wolverines finished the regular season at 14-17 overall and 8-6 in league play. UVU and Seattle U tied for fourth in the conference standings but the Wolverines held the tiebreaker as they'll enter as the four seed and the Redhawks will enter as the five. 
 
Live video will be streamed for free throughout the weekend on the WAC Digital Network. Live stats can also be followed for all five matches by visiting WACStats.com.
 
The Wolverines will enter the tournament having won four of their last five matches. After defeating the top-seed and regular season champion Missouri-Kansas City Kangaroos and Chicago State two weeks ago, UVU also swept in-state foe Utah State as well as Grand Canyon last week. The lone loss during the stretch came to the No. 3 seeded CSUB Roadrunners last Thursday in four sets in Bakersfield. 
 
Thursday's meeting against SU will mark the second consecutive season that UVU will take on Seattle U in the opening round of the WAC Tournament. The then sixth-seeded Redhawks managed to eliminate the three-seeded Wolverines in five sets a year ago (21-25, 25-22, 25-23, 16-25, 13-15).
 
UVU and SU split the season series this season, as each team won on their home court. The all-time series is also tied up as it is deadlocked at 3-3.
 
Senior libero McKenna Tait set another school record for Utah Valley last week, as she became the program's all-time leader in digs late in the third set in Saturday's regular season finale at GCU. Tait, who also holds UVU records in service aces (191), aces per set (0.42) and service attempts (1,925), passed Allyce Jones (2007-09) to become the program's all-time leader in digs with 1,733.
 
Tait not only leads the league in service aces this season (0.42) but also ranks 26th nationally in the same category. She also paces UVU in digs (4.74) while junior Lauren Bakker leads the way in hitting .348, blocking (1.24) and points (383.5). Sophomore Macky Treanor is tops on the squad in kills with a 2.96 per set average.
 
About Seattle U
The Redhawks will enter the tournament as the five seed with a 12-15 overall record and an 8-6 clip in the WAC this season. SU dropped its season finale at Bakersfield in straight sets on Saturday, but prior to that had won three of its last four.
 
Matea Mamic leads Seattle U in kills with an average of 2.85 while Martina Samadan paces the team in both attack percentage (.356) and blocks (1.21). Samadan's hitting percentage is also good enough to lead the conference while her running mate Kerry Lane ranks second in the league in assists with 9.72 per set.
 
Up Next for the Wolverines
The winner of Thursday's showdown between UVU and SU will advance on to face No. 1 UMKC in the semifinals on Friday evening at 8:30 p.m. MT/7:30 p.m. PT. The winner of that will then face an opponent to be determined in the championship match on Saturday at 6 p.m. MT/5 p.m. PT. The 2014 WAC Tournament Champion will receive the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.