EDINBURG, Texas – The Wolverines completed the season sweep of UT Rio Grande Valley with a dominating sweep, 3-0 (25-15, 28-26, 25-21) on the road in UTRGV Fieldhouse. Seren Jardine became the all-time leader in career digs in Utah Valley history, passing McKenna Tait with 1748 career digs. With the win, UVU improves to 11-4 on the season, including 11-3 in WAC play. The Vaqueros fall to 2-12 on the year and 2-10 in conference play.

"I was really happy with how we executed today," said Utah Valley head volleyball coach Sam Atoa. "We made a few adjustments and it paid off. Our main defensive focus was to take them out of system with our serving and to convert on those opportunities. On offense, our focus was to side out and we did a good job with that.
 
"I am not surprised at all that Seren has reached this milestone. She works so hard to make her team better and she is an amazing young lady on and off the court. She is truly a coach's dream. It's been a privilege to coach her and to see what she has accomplished as a walk on to now."
 
After falling behind 2-1, the Wolverines scored four-straight points to take an early 5-2 lead. The Vaqueros countered with a 4-1 run but UVU responded with five-straight points to extend its lead to 11-6. After UTRGV trimmed the lead down to three, Kristen Bell led a 7-0 Utah Valley surge to take control of the opening set, 20-13. UT Rio Grande Valley was unable to challenge from there as the Wolverines took the first set, 25-15.
 
The Wolverines raced out to a 6-3 lead early in the second set but UTRGV rallied with a 6-1 run to take the lead, 9-7. Trailing 11-9, UVU ripped off a 9-2 run to retake the lead 18-13. The Vaqueros slowly chipped away at the lead, using a 3-0 spurt to tie the set up at 23-23. UTRGV briefly took a 26-25 advantage but Utah Valley scored final three points of the set, punctuated by a Kazna Tanuvasa kill, to secure the set, 28-26.
 
Utah Valley came out hot in the third set, taking a 7-2 lead early in the set. After both teams exchanged points, UVU extended its lead with a 10-4 run to seize control of the set, 18-9. The Vaqueros scored five-straight to cut the lead down to four points, but that was as close as UTRGV would get as the Wolverines pulled out the win, 25-19.
 
Jardine finished with 27 digs to lead the Wolverines. Bell led UVU with 14 kills to go along with four digs and Tanuvasa chipped in 12 kills and four digs. Jaysa Funk Stratton flirted with another double-double, leading the Wolverines with 24 assists to go along with eight digs. Bryton Bishop added another pair of aces to go along with 15 digs while Abbie Miller finished with 13 helpers. Kaili Downs added three blocks to lead six Wolverines with multiple blocks.
 
The Wolverines return home for the final series of the regular season as they host Grand Canyon on Monday and Tuesday, March 22-23, in Lockhart Arena. The matches are set for 6:00 p.m. on Monday and noon on Tuesday.