Utah Valley (3-4) at Idaho State (3-3)
Monday, Sept. 4  |  6 p.m. MT
Reed Gym   |  Pocatello, Idaho
Live Video  |  Live Audio  |  Live Stats  |  UVU Notes  |  ISU Notes

Utah Valley (3-4) at Utah State (4-2)
Tuesday, Sept. 5  |  7 p.m. MT
Wayne Estes Center   |  Logan, Utah
Live Video  |  Live Stats  |  UVU Notes  |  USU Notes
 

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UTAH VALLEY HEADS NORTH TO FACE IDAHO STATE MONDAY, UTAH STATE TUESDAY
OREM, Utah – Fresh off of a 2-1 outing at the Wolverine Invitational over the weekend, the Utah Valley University volleyball team will hit the road for a pair of matches at Idaho State and Utah State. The Wolverines will first face ISU in Pocatello on Monday at 6 p.m. before closing the quick two-match trip with an in-state contest against USU in Logan on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
 
Live Video and live stats will be available for both matches by visiting GoUVU.com.
 
"This will be a great challenge for us. We play both of these teams every single year and we're looking forward to seeing how we'll perform against them on the road this season," said head UVU coach Sam Atoa. "It's tough to play our game on someone else's home court. But if we can get ourselves to be poised and composed in tough situations, than I think we'll have a good chance."
 
UVU (3-4) will enter the contests with a second-place finish at the home Wolverine Invitational this past weekend. Following a 3-0 setback in three tightly contested sets to No. 9 Kansas in the tournament opener on Thursday (20-25, 19-25, 23-25), the Wolverines responded with a 3-0 sweep over Montana on Friday (25-15, 26-24, 25-16) and followed that up a 3-1 victory over Long Beach State in the tournament finale in Saturday (25-21, 12-25, 27-25, 25-18).
 
Seniors Madison Dennison and Sierra Starley were both named to the Wolverine Invitational All-Tournament Team after helping lead UVU to the pair of victories. Dennison, who tied a career-high with 17 kills on Saturday against LBSU, put up a total of 36 kills on the weekend, a 3.60 kills per set average, a .410 hitting percentage, and 13 blocks for an average of 1.30 blocks per set, while Starley dished out 103 assists, a 10.30 assists per set average, 14 digs, nine blocks, eight kills and a pair of service aces.
 
Freshman Kristen Allred too had a big weekend for Utah Valley by tallying 31 kills (3.10 kills per set average), 22 digs (2.20 digs per set average), seven blocks and four block assists, as did fellow freshman Seren Merrill who led the way from the back row with 48 digs (4.80 digs per set average) and four aces.
 
Dennison paces UVU on the season in both kills and blocks with respective per set averages of 3.08 and 1.48 per set. She also holds a .302 attack percentage after hitting over .400 last week. She also leads the WAC in both total blocks (37.0) and blocks per set average (1.48). Fellow senior Lexi Thompson is next for UVU offensively with a 2.84 kills per set average, while Starley leads the way in assists by dishing out 9.60 per set.
 
ABOUT IDAHO STATE
The Bengals will enter Monday's Labor Day contest with a 3-3 record after too going 2-1 over the weekend at Belmont's Bruiser Showcase in Nashville, Tennessee. ISU earned a 3-0 sweep over Middle Tennessee and a 3-2 battle over the host Belmont Bruins, before dropping the weekend finale to UT Arlington in straight sets. Idaho State also holds a four-set win on the year over South Dakota State. The Bengals were picked to finish sixth in the Big Sky this season after going 16-15 last season and taking fifth in the league a year ago.
 
Chloe Hirst paces Idaho State in kills on the year with a total of 85 for a 3.40 per set average, while Taylor Meeks leads the way at the net with 21 blocks and a 0.84 per set average.
 
Monday's contest will mark the 15th all-time meeting between the Wolverines and Bengals. ISU will enter the match with a slight 8-6 series advantage after having won the last five contests. Utah Valley's last win over Idaho State came on Oct. 17, 2009 in Pocatello.
 
ABOUT UTAH STATE
The Aggies are off to a 4-2 start in 2017 after going 2-1 in each of their first two tournaments on the year. USU pulled out wins over Louisiana-Monroe and WAC foe CSU Bakersfield at the Arkansas Classic to open the season, before beating Pacific and UC Santa Barbara at the Utah State Invitational over the weekend. The Aggies were picked to finish sixth in the Mountain West this season after going 14-16 and 8-10 in league play last year.
 
Lauren Anderson leads the way for Utah State offensively on the season with 93 kills and a 4.23 per set average. Lauren O'Brien paces the Aggie defense with 23 blocks and a 1.10 per set clip.
 
Tuesday's match will also mark the 15th all-time meeting between the Wolverines and Aggies. USU too holds an 8-6 series lead over UVU after having won three of the last four contests. Utah Valley's last win in Logan came on Oct. 9, 2012 when the Wolverines defeated Utah State in five sets.
 
UP NEXT FOR UVU
The Wolverines will conclude their preseason tournament play at the TCU Fight in the Fort this weekend, Sept. 8-9, in Fort Worth, Texas. UVU will face Lehigh, Duke and the host Horned Frogs at the two-day event.