BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The Utah Valley University volleyball team had its five-match winning streak halted by CSU Bakersfield in the full five sets in WAC volleyball on Saturday afternoon at the Icardo Center (25-27, 25-14, 25-20, 17-25, 17-19). With the loss, the Wolverines (13-11) drop to third place in the conference standings at 8-3, while the Roadrunners (10-12, 8-2) move into second place with the win.
 
"It was a heartbreaker today. I felt like the girls played really, really hard in this one. Unfortunately, the result just didn't go our way," said head coach Sam Atoa. "It's a tough lesson to learn, but hopefully we'll regroup and be ready to go next week." 
 
With the match all tied at two sets apiece, the momentum remained with CSUB early in the decisive fifth set as it took a quick 7-2 advantage. The Wolverines quickly answered with a trio of consecutive points to make it a 7-5 score, and later pulled to within one at 9-8, as the final frame went right down to the wire. With UVU facing a 'Runner match-point deficit at 14-13, Jensen answered for the Wolverines with a clutch kill to tie the score at 14-all. The contest then seesawed back and forth from there until the Roadrunners managed to score back-to-back points to pull out the epic set on their home court by a score of 19-17.
 
"I was very proud of the way that the girls were able to battle back in that fifth set. It was really anybody's ballgame after we managed to tie things up," Atoa added. "Overall, the girls played hard and I was proud of their effort."
 
Despite suffering the setback, freshman Abby Jensen posted a season-high 22 kills and a .400 hitting percentage for the Wolverines while senior Lauren Bakker finished right behind her with 17 kills, a .500 attack clip, a match-high seven blocks and a career-high three aces. Sophomore setter Sierra Starley also played well for UVU by notching her fifth double-double of the season with 49 assists and a career-best 12 digs.
 
With the home 'Runners holding a 15-10 first-set advantage, UVU scored five unanswered points to tie the frame up at 15-all. Neither team led by more than two the rest of the frame as it headed for extra points. Following a go-ahead kill from sophomore Madison Dennison that made it 25-24 Wolverines, CSUB struck back with three straight points to take the opener by a score of 27-25.
 
The Wolverines then responded in the second set, as they quickly jumped out to an 8-2 advantage. UVU held onto its lead from there, cruising to an 11-point second-set victory to tie the match at 1-1. Bakker and Jensen paced the Wolverines in the frame with five kills apiece.
 
With Utah Valley holding to a 12-10 lead midway through the third set, the Wolverines managed to reel off a 5-0 spurt to take a 17-10 advantage. The 'Runners tried to stage a late comeback, but they couldn't close the gap to fewer than four as UVU held on to take a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-20 third-set victory. The freshman Jensen led all players with seven kills in the third game.
 
The Roadrunners then answered back in the early stages of the fourth frame with a 6-0 run to jump out to a 9-4 lead. The Wolverines later cut the deficit to three, at 16-13, but that was as close as they would make it as they dropped the fourth set by eight points to setup the final fifth frame.
 
Dennison and junior Kiahna Steiner too played well for UVU in the contest, as Dennison posted eight kills and five blocks and Steiner chipped in five kills, four blocks and a career-best three aces.  
 
Despite falling to the 'Runners, UVU managed to outhit (.262-.251), outblock (13-6) and outserve (11-8) Bakersfield in the contest.
 
With three conference matches still remaining on the season, the Wolverines will conclude their four-match road stretch at the fourth-place Seattle U Redhawks (15-9, 7-4 WAC) next Saturday, Nov. 7. The contest will not only mark the lone match of the week for UVU, but also its final regular-season road matchup of the year as Utah Valley will conclude its 2015-16 campaign at home the following week.