SALT LAKE CITY—Madie Wardle tallied a 16-assist, 10-dig double-double to lead the Utah Valley University volleyball team in a 3-1 (17-25, 25-19, 16-25, 21-25) road loss to 24th-ranked Utah on Friday night at the Huntsman Center.
 
The loss drops Utah Valley to 8-5 on the season, while Utah improves to 8-3 on the season.
 
"As coaches, you always want your team to do it just a little better and tonight was that way," said Utah Valley head coach Sam Atoa. "We found ourselves in some great challenging situations where we could have done just a little better. We were right there. Utah is a good team. This game allowed us to just keep getting better in road games and in our conference, it will come down to how you play on the road. I'm pleased with our effort in the preseason but we're not satisfied. There are some things we've done really well and some things we're going to keep improving on and getting better at. We're excited to get into WAC play and be at home in our own gym next week."
 
Wardle was impressive over the four sets, tallying 16 assists and 10 digs for her third double-double of the season. Kazna Tarawhiti led the Wolverines with 16 kills on 46 attacks for a .217 hitting mark. The freshman outside hitter also tallied five digs and two blocks.
 
Kristen Allred also reached double figure kills with 15. Allred recorded her 15 kills on 32 attacks for a hitting percentage of .406—her second-best mark of the season. The sophomore outside hitter also totaled seven digs, one block and an ace. Seren Merrill led UVU with a match-high 15 digs. Jasmine Niutupuivaha led the Wolverines with seven blocks.
 
As a team, UVU posted 44 kills on 131 total attacks for a .221 hitting mark. Utah tallied 66 kills on 141 attacks for a .291 hitting percentage. The Wolverines had 15 attack errors to Utah's 25. UVU out-blocked the Utes, 11-5.
 
The first set of the match produced five ties and stayed within just two points until Utah used a 6-1 run to take a 21-15 lead that it would use to secure a 25-17 win in set number one.  Leading by just two points, 13-11 in set number two, Utah Valley went on a an 8-3 run to go ahead by six points, 21-15. The Wolverines allowed Utah just four more points as UVU closed out the set with a 25-19 victory. Utah secured the win with victories in both the third and fourth sets, winning 25-16 in set number three and 25-21 in a closely contested fourth set.
 
The match against Utah was UVU's final non-conference match of the season. The Wolverines begin Western Athletic Conference play at home on Thursday, Sept. 20 against Chicago State. Opening serve is set for 6 p.m. The Wolverines will then welcome UMKC to Lockhart Arena on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 1 p.m.