OREM, Utah – Playing its third consecutive five-set contest to start the WAC regular season, Utah Valley University couldn't pull off a dramatic comeback, falling 3-2 (16-25, 18-25, 25-14, 25-17, 15-17) to California Baptist University on Tuesday in Lockhart Arena.
 
Seven of the last eight matches have gone a full five sets for the Wolverines (8-8, 0-3 WAC). In the deciding set, the Lancers (11-4, 2-1 WAC) scored the first five points with consecutive service aces from Tesa Oaks, forcing a UVU timeout. Utah Valley climbed back into it with seven of the next nine points to get within two.
 
A Kristen Allred kill, on a long rally, got UVU within a point before Makaila Jarema and Kaili Downs teamed up for block to tie it at 10-10. Utah Valley twice had match point, the last coming at 15-14, before CBU scored the final three points to secure the victory. 
 
Downs had a season-high 17 kills for UVU and shared match-high totals with California Baptist's Megan Sester. The Wolverines hit .195 in the match, compared to .126 from the Lancers, and both teams registered 12 blocks apiece.
 
"We played very poorly in the first two sets, but I was really proud that we were able to control our game and not let that affect us in both the third and fourth sets. We then found ourselves down by quite a bit in the fifth set, but again we were able to make a comeback and give ourselves a chance," head UVU coach Sam Atoa said. "We did some great things, especially in that fifth set, but in those moments we need to figure out a way to close things out. We're going to get better and learn from this to be mentally tough to close things out."  
 
Early in the first set, a kill by Jasmine Niutupuivaha got the Wolverines within a point before the Lancers scored six of the next seven to take a 13-7 lead and force the Wolverines to play catch-up the rest of the way. UVU closed to within two, 14-12, but a 4-0 spurt late in the set helped CBU take the opener, 25-16. The Lancer' Sester had five kills to lead the way.
 
California Baptist pulled away late in set two, finishing the game with a 7-2 run capped by an ace from Tesa Oaks for a 25-18 win and 2-0 lead. Oaks also had four kills in the set while Alexis Davies and the freshman Downs both had four kills for Utah Valley.
 
Down two games prior to the intermission, the Wolverines responded early in the third, using a 6-0 run to break a 7-7 tie before stretching it to an 18-9 lead. Jaysa Funk Stratton had a pair of aces during the spurt. UVU finished off the set with three straight points capped by a Jarema kill. Utah Valley hit .387 in the set, while limiting CBU to an .054 percentage, with Jarema and Downs combining for eight of the 16 kills in set three.
 
With Funk Stratton serving early in the fourth, UVU again started strong, building a quick 7-2 lead. The Wolverines led 15-14 midway through before a Kazna Tarawhiti kill began a 5-1 run to give the Wolverines a 20-15 lead. Seren Merrill had back-to-back aces to give UVU a 24-17 lead before a Allred and Niutupuivaha block sent it to the fifth.
 
The Wolverines comeback attempt then fell just short after dropping a tightly contested fifth set by a score of 17-15. 
 
Behind Downs' team-high 17 kills on an impressive .517 attack percentage, Tarawhiti was next for UVU with 13 kills. Niutupuivaha and Davies also tallied eight kills apiece as well as seven and six respective blocks. Madi Wardle led the Wolverines in assists with 28, while Merill topped the team from the back row with a match-high 21 digs. 
 
Thursday's match was an early, 11 a.m. MT start, with over 1100 fans in attendance thanks to over 700 enthusiastic elementary school students helping fill the stands of Lockhart Arena.
 
The Wolverines will now hit the road for the first time in WAC play with a Saturday contest at CSU Bakersfield (2 p.m. MT/1 p.m. PT). UVU will travel to Seattle U and Grand Canyon next week in conference action.