POCATELLO, Idaho – The Utah Valley women's volleyball team traveled for the first away game of the 2019 season to Pocatello, Idaho to take on the Bengals of Idaho State in a single-night matchup. The Wolverines dropped the contest to the Bengals (21-25, 25-23, 19-25, 22-25).
 
The Wolverines came out with a strong lead against the Bengals at 4-1, after a pair of ISU net violations and a struggle on the reception line. Tori Dorius opened for the Wolverines with a pair of back-to-back kills, while Kazna Tarawhiti added an ace from the backline, putting the Wolverines on top, 10-9. UVU would let Idaho State back in the game with a six-point run from three kills and two service aces for a Bengal lead of 10-15. A trio of kills from Dorius would keep UVU in the running with ISU at 20-20, but the Wolverines would fall just short in the first set, 21-25. Bailey Christensen brought a strong presence to the net with three kills in the first set to collect a .375% average for the Wolverines.
 
Utah Valley held a steady lead into the second set, with Kaili Downs and Christensen on the front line with four kills in the five points that Utah Valley had won. UVU held an even tug-of-war with ISU, both with 18 kills and 24 digs across the second set. Idaho State took their first lead of the set at 17-18, with a kill from Brooke Pehrson. Tied at 19-19, Tarawhiti swung for a cluth kill and Downs drilled one down the line from the right side to put Utah Valley up, 21-19. A service error followed by an attack error from ISU put UVU up again at 24-22, and a final kill from Downs would finish set two with the Wolverines on top, 25-23.
 
Set three brought another hard-fought contest for the Wolverines as Idaho State jumped out to a 1-4 lead in the beginning of the third. Swinging the momentum for Utah Valley was Jasmine Niutupuivaha with a pair of kills followed up by a double block from Sadie Hamson and Downs to even the score back up at 5-5. Set three quickly became a play-for-play contest to a tie of 16-16, until a handful of errors on the UVU side of the court gave Idaho State the 16-20 advantage. UVU was unable to make up the difference, dropping the third set, 19-25.
 
In the final set of the night, Utah Valley dug a deficit of 4-10 early on, but a run of three kills from Hamson at the net would lessen the gap to 16-18 late in the fourth. Tarawhiti would close out the set for UVU with three kills to keep the Wolverines in it, but not enough as they fell in the final set to ISU, 22-25.  
 
Utah Valley had a number of leaders on the front line against ISU, led by Tarawhiti with 16 kills, followed by Downs with 10 and Sadie Hamson with eight. Downs and Hamson also added four blocks a piece in the UVU fight against Idaho State. Seren Merrill also lit up the backrow with 24 digs individually. Despite the loss, the Wolverines out-hit the Bengals 52-47 in kills, 8-6 on blocks and went 64-57 for digs in the backrow.
 
UVU will return home for the first Orem-hosted event this weekend, September 6-7 in the La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Invitational. UVU will see matchups against Portland State, UC Davis, and in-state rival, Utah. For the complete schedule and more information, click here.