OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University volleyball team swept past Grand Canyon University, 3-0, on Senior Night in Orem on Thursday evening in the PE Building (25-22, 25-19, 25-22). UVU posted a season-high .358 hitting percentage en route to earning the three-set victory.
 
The win marked UVU's 10th in its last 12 matches, as the Wolverines improve to 14-13 overall and remain just a game back of second place in the WAC standings with one to play with a 9-4 league record. The Wolverines will close their regular season at home on Saturday in a battle for second place against CSU Bakersfield (13-13, 10-3 WAC).
 
"The girls played really well tonight. I was excited for how we performed and that we were able to execute at a high level on Senior Night," head UVU coach Sam Atoa said. "I loved the connection that Madison had with Sierra tonight, as well as how our seniors performed. Kiahna, Kelcee and Nakisha were all solid for us. It was great to see all of them play at a very high level when we needed them."
 
Junior Madison Dennison led the way for the Wolverines on the night with 12 kills, a .550 hitting percentage and four blocks, while senior Kiahna Vernon was next with 10 kills. Fellow seniors Nakisha Willden and Kelcee Munk too played well on UVU's Senior Night, as she notched a match-high 20 digs while senior Munk added five kills, four digs and three blocks.
 
In a tightly contested opening set that featured 12 ties and a pair of lead changes, GCU (5-20, 1-12 WAC) pulled out to a late 19-17 advantage following a Wolverine service error. Utah Valley then responded with a 5-1 run to take a 22-20 lead. Lexi Thompson led the spurt with a pair of kills while Dennison and Sierra Starley capped the rally with a block assist. After back-to-back GCU points tied the score at 22-all, a Dennison kill followed by consecutive setter dumps from Starley helped the Wolverines finish off the first-set by a score of 25-22.
 
With UVU holding to an early 8-7 lead in the second game, a Vernon kill helped spark an 8-1 Wolverine run en route to taking a 16-8 advantage. With Utah Valley later holding to a 21-12 lead, GCU reeled off a late 7-2 spurt to pull within four at 23-19. But UVU finally responded with back-to-back kills from Dennison and Alexis Davies to take a 2-0 lead in the match thanks to a 25-19 second-set victory. Vernon and Thompson paced the Wolverines in the set with four kills apiece.
 
The Antelopes turned things around early in the third set, as they built an early 7-3 advantage. With GCU later holding to an 11-9 lead, UVU reeled off a 3-1 spurt to deadlock the score at 12-12. The set went back and forth from there until Utah Valley drove home a pair of consecutive points to take a late 22-20 advantage. The Lopes once again responded with back-to-back points of their own to tie the score at 22-all, but UVU then came through with a trio of clutch points to put the match away in straight sets. Dennison led the Wolverines' final rally with a pair of kills.
 
With the victory, UVU improved to a perfect 8-0 all-time against the Lopes.   
 
The Wolverines will close their regular season on Saturday at 1 p.m. MT in the PE Building in a big match against the second-place CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners. The winner of the contest will earn the two seed for next week's WAC Tournament and a first-round bye. The 2016 WAC Tournament will be held Nov. 17-19 at New Mexico State's Pan American Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
 
"We're happy to be at home, but you can't take anything for granted. It's going to be a big match for us," added Atoa. "We need to be able to execute at a very high level so that we can secure that second seed for next week's conference tournament."