OREM, Utah – Despite a career-high 21 kills from Kristen Allred and 19 more from Kazna Tarawhiti, the Utah Valley University volleyball team had its winning streak come to a close with a five-set setback to in-state rival Weber State on Tuesday night at Lockhart Arena (25-22, 20-25, 17-25, 31-29, 5-15). 
 
UVU, who had its winning streak halted at six matches, drops to 8-4 on the year with the setback, while WSU improves to 4-3 with the victory.
 
"You've got to give Weber State credit. I felt like we had a chance there after that fourth set to try and claw ourselves back, but they humbled us," UVU head coach Sam Atoa said. "Things like this happen. So we'll go back and try and figure out what we need to be better at, but a large part of this match had to do with what Weber State did."    
 
Despite dropping the contest, Allred had a big match for UVU with a career-high 21 kills and a solid .340 hitting percentage. She also added her third double-double of the year with 11 digs. Besides tallying 19 kills, the freshman Tarawhiti also added seven digs, two blocks and a service ace, while Alexis Davies and Jasmine Niutupuivaha chipped in nine kills apiece for the Wolverines. Madi Wardle and Seren Merrill too had nice outings for Utah Valley go tallying a team-high 35 assists and 17 digs, respectively.   
 
Trailing two sets to one, the Wolverines looked determined to turn things around by jumping out to a quick 4-1 lead. But back answered WSU with four straight points to take a 5-4 advantage of its own. With the Wildcats later holding to a 10-8 lead, UVU reeled off four consecutive points to take a 12-10 lead. Weber State then struck back with a 4-1 spurt to take a 14-13 advantage. The set then stayed tight from there until WSU managed to drive home back-to-back-to-back points to take a late 23-21 lead. Utah Valley then answered right back, however, with a kill from the libero Merrill and another from Allred to deadlock the score at 23-all. Both teams then seemed to match one another blow-from-blow from there as play continued well past 25. With the set later all knotted up at 29-all, Tarawhiti then drove home her fifth kill of the set and UVU followed with the decisive point on a WSU attack error to give the Wolverines the hard fought fourth game by a score of 31-29. In all, the fourth set featured 22 ties and six lead changes.
 
In the winner-take-all fifth set, the Wildcats then responded by getting off to a quick start by jumping out to an early 5-1 lead. UVU struck back with consecutive points on a Tarawhiti kill and an Abbie Vincent ace to make it 5-3, but back countered WSU with five straight points to take a 10-3 lead. The Wolverines then drove home back-to-back points to make it a 10-5 score, but the Wildcats would go on to score five unanswered points to put the match away with a 15-5 fifth-set victory. 
 
Andrea Hale led Weber State in the contest with a match-high 28 kills on a solid .415 hitting clip. Megan Gneiting too had a solid outing for the Wildcats by adding a double-double with 16 kills and 11 digs. 
 
In the opening set, the Wildcats were the first to get things going by building an early 8-4 lead. UVU quickly answered back, however, with a 3-0 spurt to pull within a point at 8-7. The set stayed close from there, as each team seemingly traded points back and forth until UVU managed to reel off a late 4-1 run to take a 21-19 advantage. Wardle and Vincent both drove home aces for the Wolverines during the stretch. Weber State then pulled to within a point late at 22-21, but UVU responded to score three of the next four points to take the opener by a score of 25-22. Tarawhiti had a pair of kills for Utah Valley down the stretch for two of her six first-set kills.  
 
With WSU holding to an early 7-4 second-set lead, UVU then responded with a 4-1 run to tie the score at 8-8. Allred led the run for the Wolverines with a trio of kills. With the Wildcats later holding to a 12-11 advantage, WSU managed to push its lead to 18-12 following a 6-1 spurt. The Wolverines later cut the deficit to three at 23-20 following a trio of unanswered points, but Weber State answered with back-to-back points to take the second set, 25-20, and tie the match at 1-1. 
 
Weber State again jumped ahead in the third game, as it took a 10-6 lead following a 3-0 spurt. After back-to-back Wolverine points, WSU then responded with a 7-1 run to take a 17-9 advantage. UVU later pulled to within seven a couple of times down the stretch, but the Wildcats managed to put the set away at 25-17 on a solo block from Sam Schiess to take a 2-1 lead in the match. 
 
The contest marked UVU's fourth consecutive five-set match. 
 
Despite suffering the defeat, Utah Valley has still won six of its last seven contests as well as seven of its last nine. 
 
The Wolverines will now continue in-state play by heading to Salt Lake City this weekend to take on No. 24 Utah on Friday, Sept. 14 at 7 p.m. at the Huntsman Center. The contest will mark Utah Valley's final non-conference match of the season, as UVU will open WAC play on Thursday, Sept. 20 at home against Chicago State.