SAN FRANCISCO – The Utah Valley University volleyball team concluded its opening tournament with a 3-1 setback to Nevada on Saturday afternoon as part of the SJSU/USF Invitational at War Memorial Gym in San Francisco (17-25, 25-20, 14-25, 19-25).
 
With the setback, the Wolverines drop to 0-3 on the young season while Nevada improves to 1-1 with the victory.
 
"We were hoping that we would be able to build off of some good things that we did yesterday," head UVU coach Sam Atoa said. "We kind of got stuck with poor passing and our execution just wasn't there. That's an area of the game that we've got to be able to improve and get better at."
 
With the Wolf Pack of the Mountain West Conference holding to an early 5-2 advantage in the opening set, UVU quickly responded with a 3-1 run to tie the score at 6-6. Both teams then went on to trade points until Nevada managed to reel off a 7-1 run to take a 21-14 lead. The Wolverines countered back with three straights points of their own thanks to a pair of Wolf Pack miscues and a Jasmine Niutupuivaha kill to make it 21-17, but it wasn't enough as Nevada scored the final four points to take the opener by a score of 25-17.
 
In a very tightly contested set that featured 11 ties and four lead changes, the Wolverines were the first to take a three-point advantage, at 18-15, following a 3-1 spurt that was capped by a Niutupuivaha and Izzie Hinton block assist. After a Nevada point later made it a 22-20 score, Utah Valley answered with back-to-back-to-back points to take the set at 25-20 and even the match at one set apiece. Setter Sierra Starley dumped in a key kill during UVU's final spurt along with another block assist from Niutupuivaha and Hinton on set point.
 
With the third set all deadlocked up at 9-9, the Wolf Pack managed to piece together a 6-0 run to take a 15-9 lead. After UVU and Nevada split the next four points, the Wolf Pack put the set away thanks to another 5-0 spurt to take a sizable 22-11 advantage. Nevada would go on to take the third set, 25-14, to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
In another closely contested set, Nevada was the first to pull ahead in the fourth game at 15-11 following four unanswered points. With the Wolf Pack holding to a 17-13 advantage, Nevada managed to score four straight points once again to extend their advantage to 21-13. UVU then countered back with three consecutive points of its own to make it a 21-16 contest, but Nevada would hold its lead from there as it went on to take the set, 25-19, and the match three sets to one.
 
Seniors Lexi Thompson and Madison Dennison led the Wolverines offensively in the contest with 12 and 11 respective kills. Dennison also added a team-high six blocks, which included three solos, while Starley tallied her second double-double of the weekend with 35 assists and 12 digs. Niutupuivaha too had a nice match for the Wolverines by recording a career-high six kills, an impressive .600 hitting percentage and three blocks.
 
Peighton De Von paced the Wolf Pack with a match-high 14 kills and eight blocks. 
 
The Wolverines will now return to the state of Utah for an in-state clash against Southern Utah on Tuesday, Aug. 29 at 6 p.m. in Cedar City. Following Tuesday's contest, UVU will return home to host the Wolverine Invitational Aug. 31-Sept. 2 at Lockhart Arena. Utah Valley will open the home tournament on Thursday at 7 p.m. against No. 8 Kansas.