Utah Valley at Chicago State
Thursday, Sept. 24   |   7 p.m. CT/6 p.m. MT
Live Stats    |   UVU Match Notes

Utah Valley at Missouri-Kansas City
Saturday, Sept. 26   |   2 p.m. CT/1 p.m. MT
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VOLLEYBALL OPENS WAC PLAY THIS WEEK AT CHICAGO STATE, UMKC
OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University volleyball team will once again hit the road to begin Western Athletic Conference play at Chicago State and Missouri-Kansas City this weekend.
 
The Wolverines will open their third season of WAC play at Chicago State on Thursday before heading to Kansas City to face the defending conference champion UMKC Kangaroos on Saturday. Thursday's match is set to begin at 7 p.m. CT/6 p.m. MT at CSU's Jacoby Dickens Center while Saturday matinee will take place from UMKC's Swinney Recreation Center at 2 p.m. CT/1 p.m. MT.
 
UVU finished 2014 tied for fourth place in the WAC standing with an 8-6 conference record and was picked to place fifth in the league standing this year. The Wolverines are 4-8 so far this season after opening 2015 on an 11-match road swing. Utah Valley capped its season-opening road stretch with a five-game setback at Utah State on Sept. 15 before falling to No. 9 BYU in front of a school record crowd of 2,445 fans in its home opener at the PE Building on Sept. 19. 
 
In last Saturday's contest against the neighboring rival BYU Cougars, the Wolverines took an early advantage in the third set after dropping the first two. UVU jumped out to a 6-2 lead following a 4-0 spurt but the Cougars would quickly tie things up at 9-9. The set then went back-and-forth from there until BYU used a late 5-2 run to put the set and the match away.
 
Junior Macky Fifita led the Wolverines in Saturday's contest by tallying her third double-double of the season with 12 kills and 10 digs. Senior Lauren Bakker was next with eight kills and three blocks, while sophomore Madison Dennison chipped in seven kills, three blocks and a .452 hitting percentage.
 
Bakker, who was tabbed the preseason conference player of the year last month, leads UVU and the entire WAC in blocks with a 1.26 per set clip. Fifita is tops on the team in kills with a 2.93 per set average while Dennison leads the way in hitting with a solid .324 percentage.
 
ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
Chicago State will enter Thursday's WAC opener with a 1-12 overall record after recently recording its first victory of the season in a sweep over Western Illinois last weekend at the Indiana State Classic. Prior to last Saturday's victory, the Cougars had lost 28 consecutive matches dating back to last season. CSU was picked to finish eighth in the WAC this season after going winless in conference play a year ago.
 
Elli Woinowsky leads the Cougars offense with a 3.00 kills per set average.
 
Thursday's meeting will mark the 17th all-time matchup between UVU and CSU. The Wolverines will enter play with an unblemished 16-0 record, including a perfect 8-0 mark in the Windy City.
 
UMKC will enter the weekend with a 7-5 record on the year but will host Seattle U in its conference opener on Thursday prior to facing the Wolverines on Saturday. The Kangaroos have won four of their last six matches after sweeping the Kangaroo Classic two weeks ago and going 1-2 at the Jayhawk Classic last week. Missouri-Kansas City won the WAC title last season after going 12-2 in league play and was picked to repeat once again this year in the preseason poll.
 
Sydney Crimmins leads the 'Roos in both kills (2.86) and attack percentage (.329), while Skyler Muff is tops on the team in blocks (1.23).
 
Saturday's contest will be the fifth all-time meeting between the Wolverines and Kangaroos. UVU will enter play with a 3-1 series advantage after splitting last year's meetings.
 
UP NEXT FOR UVU
The Wolverines will return to Orem for a three-match conference homestand. During the stretch, UVU will host CSU Bakersfield (Oct. 1), Grand Canyon (Oct. 3) and Seattle U (Oct. 10).