Utah Valley vs. UT Rio Grande Valley
Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015  |  7 p.m. MT
Orem, Utah   |   PE Building 
Live Video  |  Live Stats  |  UVU Match Notes

Utah Valley vs. New Mexico State
Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015  |  11 a.m. MT
Orem, Utah   |   PE Building
WAC Digital Network  |  Live Stats 
 

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UVU VOLLEYBALL WELCOMES UTRGV, NM STATE TO TOWN FOR FINAL HOMESTAND
OREM, Utah – The second-place Utah Valley University volleyball team will close its regular season at home this weekend with a pair of key conference matches against UT Rio Grande Valley and New Mexico State. The Wolverines will first welcome the Vaqueros to town on Thursday at 7 p.m. before taking on the first-place and undefeated Aggies on Saturday at 11 a.m.
 
Saturday's contest against NM State will air live on the WAC Digital Network and will mark Senior Day for Utah Valley, as seniors Lauren Bakker, Jaramey Barney and Megan Jenkins will all be honored prior to first serve. The match was originally scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., but has since been moved up to an 11 a.m. start to accommodate UVU women's soccer's inaugural NCAA Tournament contest that is set for a 1 p.m. start at No. 13 BYU in Provo.

"It always comes down to the end, so there's a huge importance for us to be able to be at our best this weekend," head coach Sam Atoa said. "We can't worry about what other teams are doing. We need to stay focused and take care of business on our court. The girls have worked very hard this week and we're looking forward to ending the regular season on a high note."   
 
UVU (13-12) will enter its final two matches of the regular season in a three-way tie for second place in the WAC standings with an 8-4 league record. The Wolverines currently find themselves tied with CSU Bakersfield and Seattle U at 8-4 after falling to both the Roadrunners and Redhawks on the road in their last two matches. Utah Valley will be looking for two victories this week to try to earn the two-seed for next week's WAC Tournament that comes with a first-round bye. 
 
In their lone match of the week last Saturday, UVU fell in straight sets to Seattle in the Emerald City by scores of 24-26, 13-25, 15-25. Junior Kiahna Steiner led the Wolverines in the setback with eight kills while sophomore Madison Dennison added seven and a match-high .700 attack percentage.
 
Bakker, who leads UVU in blocks (1.27 per set average) and ranks second in hitting (.343) and kills (2.61), will enter Thursday's match just two kills shy of 1,000 for her career. She will look to become just the fourth Wolverine to surpass 1,000 career kills and the first to join the 1,000-career kill, 500-career block club.
 
ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
UTRGV (11-16) will come to Orem in sixth place in the WAC standings with a 4-8 league record. The Vaqueros have won two in a row and three of their last four after defeating both Grand Canyon and Bakersfield at home last week as well as Chicago State on the road two week's ago. UT Rio Grande Valley was picked to finish seventh in the WAC this season after going 3-11 in conference play last season.
 
Bojana Mitrovic paces the Vaqueros and the WAC in kills with a 4.17 per set average, while Fatoumata Dacosta is the reigning WAC Player of the Week after averaging 7.17 digs, 1.00 assists and 0.33 service aces per set a pair of victories for UTRGV last week.
 
Thursday's contest against UTRGV will mark the 28th all-time meeting between the Wolverines and Vaqueros. UVU will enter play with a commanding 26-1 all-time series lead over the UTRGV after defeating the Vaqueros in four sets in Edinburg last month.
 
NM State (23-5) already clinched the WAC regular-season title and the number one seed for next week's conference tournament last week, as they'll enter the weekend with an unblemished 12-0 mark in the league play. The Aggies will first take on Seattle U in Seattle on Wednesday evening before coming Orem to face the Wolverines in the regular-season finale on Saturday. NM State will enter the week with a 14-match winning streak, as they last fell to No. 2 Texas on Sept. 19 in four sets.
 
Gwen Murphy leads the Aggies offensively with a 3.25 kills per set average and a .415 hitting percentage. Her .415 hitting clip is good enough to rank her second the conference while her kills average currently places her third in the league.
 
Saturday's regular-season finale will mark the sixth all-time meeting between the Wolverines and Aggies. New Mexico State will enter play with a 4-1 series advantage after defeating UVU in four sets in Las Cruces earlier this season. Utah Valley's lone win over NM State came on Oct. 19, 2013 when the Wolverines managed to sweep the Aggies in the first all-time matchup at the PE Building.
 
UP NEXT FOR UVU
The Wolverines will head to Kansas City, Missouri, next weekend to compete at the WAC Tournament that will run Thursday to Saturday (Nov. 19-21) at UMKC's Swinney Recreation Center. There, the Wolverine volleyball team will be looking to record its first WAC Tournament title and the program's first trip to the NCAA Tournament.