OREM, Utah – Despite holding Utah State to one of Utah Valley's lowest single-set opponent scores in program history on the night, the UVU volleyball team found itself on the wrong end of a four-set contest to the in-state foe Aggies on Tuesday night at the UCCU Center in Orem (24-26, 25-6, 16-25, 20-25).
 
"It was disappointing. I felt like we were well prepared and had some good momentum going, but were just no where to be found after that second set," head coach Sam Atoa said. " You've got to give credit to Utah State. They showed a lot of guts of being able to come back after losing that second set like that. They really knocked us off of our tracks and we were not able to recover."
 
Utah Valley (4-7) looked strong in the early stages of the opening set, as it jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead. The Aggies (5-5) closed the gap to two at 8-6, but UVU responded by scoring six of the next eight points to extend its lead to 14-8. Madison Dennison led the spurt for UVU with a pair of kills. The Wolverines later extended their lead to as many as seven at 19-12, but back answered the Aggies with a 5-1 run to pull within three at 20-17. With UVU holding to a 24-22 set-point advantage, Utah State managed to drive home four consecutive points to complete the comeback and take the opener by a score of 26-24.
 
UVU bounced right back in the second set by erupting out to a commanding 15-2 advantage. Dennison helped spur the big run with four blocks and a trio of kills. The Wolverines cruised in the set from there, as they went on to tie the match at 1-1 with a dominant 25-6 second-set victory. Dennison paced the Wolverines in the game with five blocks and four kills. As a team, Utah Valley outhit the Aggies .550 to -.222, as well as outblocked USU 5.0 to 0.
 
In a much closer third game, Utah State was the first to get things going as it took an early 10-5 lead. UVU later pulled to within two, at 15-13, following a 5-2 spurt, but back came USU with a 5-0 run of its own to extend its lead to 21-14. The Aggies would go on to take the third set, 25-16.
 
In a tightly contested fourth set, USU was the first to break through as it took a 14-10 advantage following a 4-1 spurt. After back-to-back Utah State kills, the Aggies later extended their lead to 18-12. Utah Valley later pulled to within two at 20-18 following an Izzie Hinton kill, but back countered USU with a 5-2 run to finish off the match in four sets.
 
Despite suffering the defeat, Dennison posted her first double-double of the season with 12 kills and a career-high 10 blocks. Hinton finished right behind her with 10 kills, five blocks and a team-high .556 hitting performance, while Brighton Taylor too added five blocks of her own and Sierra Starley dished out a team-best 36 assists. As a team, the Wolverines outhit (.237 to .185) and outblocked (16.0 to 6.0) the Aggies in the losing effort.   
 
The 25-6 second-set victory over Utah State on Tuesday ties for the second largest single-set margin of victory in UVU history. It ties for a 25-6 set win over Chicago State that occurred on Oct. 7, 2010. The greatest single-set victory in school history of 25-5 happened on two occasions (Oct. 7, 2008 and Sept. 18, 2009) against the same CSU Cougars.
 
The Wolverines will continue their three-match homestand this week by hosting a pair of non-conference matches this weekend as part of the UVU/BYU Challenge. UVU will first welcome UNLV to the UCCU Center on Friday, Sept. 16 for a 4 p.m. contest before closing the week against CSUN on Saturday at 5 p.m. Both contests will be a part of Utah Valley University's Homecoming festivities.