OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University volleyball team dropped a tightly contested Western Athletic Conference road match to second-place UMKC, 3-1, on Thursday evening at the Swinney Rec Center in Kansas City (21-25, 22-25, 25-22, 23-25).
 
The Wolverines drop to 14-12 overall and 6-7 in WAC play with the setback, while Kansas City remains just a half a match out of first place in the conference standings with the victory at 19-8 overall and 10-3 in league play. Both teams have just three regular-season WAC matches remaining.

"We felt like we really battled there in those final two sets and we had our opportunities to come back. Unfortunately, we weren't the better team here tonight," head UVU coach Sam Atoa said. "We had too many errors and mistakes. But I was proud of the team for giving ourselves a chance and not giving up. Ultimately, it didn't bounce our way."
 
Despite dropping the contest, Kazna Tarawhiti led all players with a match-high 21 kills on .218 hitting. She also added a double-double with 11 digs. Kristen Allred too played well for the Wolverines offensively with 14 kills, while Makaila Jarema led the way in the middle with a match-high 10 blocks along with seven kills on .357 hitting. BriAnne Mortensen too chipped in a double-double from the setter position with 20 assists and 12 digs, while Madi Wardle led the team in assists with 22 and Seren Merrill paced the way from the back row with a match-high 24 digs. 
 
Kansas City jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the first set and never trailed en route to the 25-21 win. UVU cut it to just a one-point 7-6 Kansas City lead after a UMKC attack error. UMKC held a three-point advantage before an Allred kill cut it to just two points, 15-13. The Kangaroos extended their lead back out to four points, 22-18. UVU would get within two points, 23-21 after back-to-back points, including a kill by Kaili Downs. UMKC then closed out the set, however, with two straight points to take the 25-21 win.
 
Tied 8-8 in the second set, UMKC went on a 7-1 run to jump out to a 14-9 lead. The Roos then jumped out to a 19-12 lead until a Jasmine Niutupuivaha kill sparked a 5-0 UVU run that cut the UMKC lead to just two points, 19-17. With UMKC leading 21-17, UVU got three straight points on a Downs kill and two kills from Allred to cut the UMKC lead to only one point, 21-20. UMKC then tallied four of the next six points to win the set, 25-22.
 
The third set included eight ties until UVU took its first lead of the set on a UMKC attack error to give the Wolverines a 22-21 advantage. An Allred service ace and a Makaila Jarema kill extended the lead to 24-21. Tarawhiti then closed out the set with a kill as UVU took the third set, 25-22.
 
UMKC opened the fourth set with an 8-1 lead before back-to-back kills by Tarawhiti sparked a 9-5 UVU run to cut the Roos lead to just three points at 13-10. Kansas City then took three straight points to go up 16-10 before UVU responded with three straight points of its own on a pair of Tarawhiti kills to cut the UMKC lead to 16-13. With the Roos later holding to a 20-15 advantage, back countered the Wolverines with a 6-1 spurt to deadlock the score at 21-21. Downs fronted the UVU run with a pair of kills, while Jarema and Alexis Davies capped the spurt with a block assist. The Roos then bounced back by scoring three of the next four to take a 24-22 set-point advantage. UVU then got a clutch kill from Allred to make it 24-23, but UMKC managed to pull the match out on the following point thanks to a UVU attack error. 
 
With the victory, Kansas City recorded the season sweep over the Wolverines after previously picking up a hard fought five-set win in Orem back in September. 
 
Harrington and Alex Ratzlaff led UMKC in the contest with 16 kills apiece. Both also added double-doubles, as Harrington collected 20 digs while Ratzlaff had 15. 
 
The Wolverines will now head on to the Windy City for a Saturday morning contest at Chicago State (10 a.m. MT/11 a.m. CT). CSU previously earned its first win in program history over UVU back in Orem in September. The Wolverines will enter the match currently tied for fifth in the conference standings while Chicago State sits in eighth at 3-10 in WAC play.