OREM, Utah — Utah Valley University fell 3-0 (16-25, 18-25, 20-25) to No. 15 Brigham Young University on Saturday in front of 1,564 fans inside Lockhart Arena in the UCCU Crosstown Clash between the neighboring schools.
The Wolverines (5-6), who saw their streak of four straight wins snapped, got 13 kills from
Kazna Tanuvasa — who hit .355 — while
Bryton Bishop collected a match-high 12 digs,
Abbie Miller added 17 assists, and
Kendra Nock finished with five blocks. Saturday's contest was the final non-conference match of the year for Utah Valley.
Kenzie Koerber had a match-high 18 kills for the Cougars (9-1) and hit .680 after connecting on 12 of her first 16 attempts. Whitney Bower added 37 assists and Madi Alllen had 10 digs for BYU. Gretchen Reinert had six of the Cougars' 43 digs in the match. Reinert, a transfer from Santa Clara, is the daughter of former Utah Valley men's basketball head coach Jeff Reinert.
The first set was tied 5-5 before BYU would score seven of the next eight points to take a 12-6 lead and force a Wolverine timeout. UVU responded with four straight out of the timeout to get within two, but the Cougars responded with their own run of four straight to extend it back to six, 16-10. BYU pulled away after that, winning the opening set 25-16 after scoring the final three points. The Cougars hit .343 in the set, while the Wolverines were limited to .091 against a BYU defense that combined for four blocks.
Utah Valley jumped in front quickly in the second set with two quick points — on BYU service error and a
Kendra Nock block. The Cougars led 11-8 before three straight UVU points, including kills from Tanuvasa and Nock, tied it. UVU got within a point after Nock and
Kalea Kennedy combined on a block to make it 17-16, but four straight BYU points extended it to 21-16. The Cougars finished set two with an 8-2 run to win 25-18 and took a 2-0 lead.
The third set was tied 8-8 and neither team led by more than two points until a quick 4-0 run by BYU gave the Cougars a 17-12 advantage. It was 18-13 when a 3-0 spurt from UVU, capped by an Miller ace, made it 18-16 and forced a BYU timeout. The Wolverines scored first out of the timeout to get within a point as the teams traded points over the next eight serves. It was a 21-20 game when BYU scored four straight points to end it.
Utah Valley opens WAC play next week with two home games, both rematches of the spring's WAC Tournament matches. The Wolverines will host New Mexico State on Thursday at 6 p.m. MT in a rematch of the tournament final. Grand Canyon comes to Lockhart Arena on Saturday in a 1 p.m. MT start in a replay of the tournament semifinal.
