OREM, Utah – Izzie Hinton and Kiahna Vernon each recorded 12 kills en route to leading Utah Valley University volleyball to a 3-0 sweep over in-state foe Southern Utah as part of the Wolverine Invitational on Saturday afternoon at the UCCU Center (25-20, 26-24, 25-19). Hinton also hit a solid .333 and chipped in three blocks, three digs and an ace, while Vernon hit .250 and added a half a dozen digs.
 
With the win, the Wolverines improve to 2-4 on the season and a perfect 2-0 on the weekend. UVU will now look to win the Wolverine Invitational when it takes on San José State in the tournament finale on Saturday at 7 p.m.
 
"The girls did a nice good of creating and converting on opportunities in this one, especially at the service line and on defense," head coach Sam Atoa said. "I was proud of how the team performed and we're looking forward to staying focused and trying to take care of things on our end against San José State."
 
With SUU holding to a 9-8 advantage early in the opening set, the Wolverines reeled off an 8-1 run to take a 16-10 lead. Alexis Davies and Madison Dennison led the spurt as Davies recorded a pair of blocks and a pair of kills while Dennison added three blocks. The Thunderbirds (1-4) then answered right back with a 9-3 run of their own to tie the score at 19-all. With the score still deadlocked at 20-20, Hinton and Brighton Taylor started a 5-0 run thanks to a couple of clutch block assists to give UVU the first set by a score of 25-20.
 
Southern Utah was the first to get things going in the second set, as it jumped out to a 12-8 lead following a 5-0 spurt. The Wolverines later countered back to pull within one, at 15-14, following respective kills from Hinton, Dennison and Vernon. Following a SUU ball handling error and a Davies ace, UVU later took a late lead at 22-21. The score then seesawed back-and-forth from there until Dennison came through with a clutch service ace followed by a SUU service error and a Vernon kill to give the Wolverines a 26-24 second-set victory.
 
With Utah Valley holding to an early 5-2 lead in the third, The T-Birds managed to reel off a 7-1 run to take a 9-6 lead of their own. With SUU later leading 16-11, the Wolverines then got things going by piecing together seven straight points to take an 18-16 lead. Hinton led the spurt for UVU with a trio of kills and a block. Following an SUU point, Utah Valley continued the rally by reeling off five more unanswered points to take a late 23-17 lead. The Wolverines then finished off the third set, 25-19, and the sweep following a kill from Dennison and another from Vernon.   
 
As a team, Utah Valley outhit and outblocked SUU .224 to .130 and 10.0 to 6.5, respectively.
 
Besides Hinton and Vernon's big outings, Dennison too played well for UVU as she recorded six kills and a match-high six blocks while Nakisha Willden added a match-high 18 digs and Madi Wardle chipped in a team-high 15 assists and a pair of aces.
 
With the victory, the Wolverines improve to 7-2 all-time against Southern Utah.    
 
Following the conclusion of the Wolverine Invitational, UVU will head to Hawai'i next weekend for the Hawai'i Outrigger Resorts Challenge. While in Hawai'i, the Wolverines will face No. 15 Hawai'i on Sept. 8, No. 5 Washington on Sept. 9 and Northern Illinois on Sept. 10.