HONOLULU – Lexi Thompson recorded a career-high 24 kills and Sierra Starley dished out a career-high 57 assists en route to leading Utah Valley University volleyball to a 3-2 victory over Northern Illinois in UVU's final match of the Hawai'i Outrigger Resorts Challenge on Saturday afternoon at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu (25-23, 25-17, 23-25, 21-25, 15-11).
 
With the win, the Wolverines improve to 4-6 on the season and finish the weekend tournament with a 1-2 record. NIU drops to 5-3 on the season following the loss. 
 
"It's always fun when you play well and get a win. The girls truly earned this one and I'm happy that we we're able to pull it out," head coach Sam Atoa said. "We needed every single dig, every single swing and every assist that we got today. I am very proud of the result and of the hard work from a number of our girls in this one."
 
Behind Thompson's match-high 24 kills, Madison Dennison was next as she finished with 14 kills of her own, a .458 hitting percentage and three blocks. Alexis Davies chipped in nine kills, while Starley added four blocks, six digs and three service aces. Nakisha Willden and Lindsey Tagge both topped double digits in digs, as each recorded career-highs with 31 and 17 respective digs.  
 
NIU, who won the MAC a year ago and was picked to win the league's western division again this season, jumped out to a 14-8 first-set lead following a 7-0 run. UVU then countered back by scoring six of the next eight points to pull within two at 16-14. Northern Illinois then took a late 20-15 lead following a 5-1 spurt, but Utah Valley answered right back with a 5-2 run of its own to make it a one-point game at 22-21. Following a NIU point, UVU managed to complete the comeback by reeling off four consecutive clutch points to take the first set by a score of 25-23. Thompson paced the Wolverines in the frame with five kills while Brighton Taylor added three blocks.
 
Utah Valley continued to stay hot in the second set, as it took an early 9-5 lead following a 5-0 spurt. Thompson once again led the run with a trio of kills. After back-to-back kills from Dennison, the Wolverines later stretched their lead to six at 14-8. With UVU later holding to an 18-13 lead, it managed to score four of the next five points to take a 22-14 advantage. The Wolverines then finished off the set a couple of points later, at 25-17, to take a commanding two sets to none lead in the match. UVU's offense was clicking on all cylinders in the game, as it outhit the Huskies .417 to .237.
 
With the third set all deadlocked early at 6-6, NIU reeled off a trio of consecutive points to take a 9-6 lead. Following a UVU timeout, the Wolverines answered right back with a 4-0 run of its own to take a 10-9 advantage. The Huskies then managed to piece together an 8-1 spurt to take a 17-11 lead. With Northern Illinois holding to a late 22-13 lead, Thompson helped the Wolverines get things going once again as she drilled home four kills en route to leading UVU to a 9-1 run to cut the deficit to one at 23-22. Despite the late run, NIU managed to respond by scoring two of the next three points to take the set, 25-23, and force a fourth game.
 
Northern Illinois was the first to pull ahead in the fourth set as it took an 11-5 lead following a 6-1 run. The Wolverines later used a 6-2 run to pull within one at 17-16. With NIU holding to a 21-17 advantage, Starley capped off a 4-0 UVU run with a service ace to tie the score at 21-all. The Huskies quickly answered, however, by reeling off a clutch 4-0 spurt of their own take the set, 25-21, and send the match to a decisive fifth game.
 
The Wolverines responded in the fifth set by taking an early 7-4 lead following a 7-1 run. Izzie Hinton and Kiahna Vernon led the spurt by each driving home a pair kills. With Utah Valley later holding to a 10-8 advantage, Thompson and Hinton responded for UVU with a respective kill and a block to give the Wolverines a late 12-8 lead. Utah Valley later put the five-set thriller away at 15-11 following a match-point kill from Vernon. Vernon and Thompson paced the Wolverines in the final game by recording four and three kills, respectively.
 
As a team, UVU outhit the Huskies .200 to .178 en route to the victory.

Following the conclusion of the tournament, Thompson earned all-tournament team honors for UVU after averaging 3.80 kills, a .231 attack percentage, 0.70 digs and 0.60 blocks. 
 
Earlier in the tournament the Wolverines fell to a pair of nationally ranked teams, as they dropped a 3-0 decision to the host and 14th-ranked Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine on Thursday and a 3-0 contest to No. 6 Washington on Friday.  
 
The Wolverines will now return to Orem for a trio of home matches next week. UVU will open the stretch by welcoming in-state rival Utah State to the UCCU Center on Tuesday, Sept. 13 (7:00 p.m.) before closing the week against UNLV on Friday, Sept. 16 (4:00 p.m.) and CSUN on Saturday, Sept. 17 (5:00 p.m.). 

2016 Outrigger Resorts Volleyball Challenge
All-Tournament Team
Lexi Thompson, Utah Valley
Mary-Grace Kelly, Northern Illinois
Emily Maglio, Hawai'i
Courtney Schwan, Washington
Tia Scambray, Washington
Nikki Taylor, Hawai'i
Most Outstanding Player: Crissy Jones, Washington