EDINBURG, Texas – Utah Valley University defeated the University of Texas at Arlington 3-1 (25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 25-17) on Thursday evening inside UTRGV Fieldhouse. Utah Valley (17-10) was led by seniors
Kazna Tanuvasa with 17 kills, and
Makayla Broadbent added 11 kills. UTA (17-10) could not overcome the 12 service aces from UVU servers.
Utah Valley won the opening set 25-19 behind four kills from
Avery Shewell and
Kazna Tanuvasa to pace the offense for the Wolverines.
Makayla Broadbent added three kills during the set. A 9-1 run late in the first set allowed UVU to pull away from UTA.
Kalea Kennedy had three kills during the stretch.
"We had a good practice yesterday, and we executed our game plan. As time passed, we got better and better offensively and defensively. I was proud of our performance," said UVU head coach
Sam Atoa.
The Mavericks used a short 4-0 run in the second set, to take the momentum away from UVU and go up 14-13. Utah Valley tied the match at 16 after kills from All-WAC first-teamers Tanuvasa and
Tori Dorius. UTA had a second 5-1 run to pull away from the Wolverines for the 25-23 set victory.
UVU responded and jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the third set after two UTA errors and a pair of kills from Tanuvasa.
Natalie Palmer put UVU up 8-4 after one of her three service aces on the night. Later in the set, Utah Valley pushed the lead to 20-12 after a 6-1 run. UTA rallied to get back within four. UVU held on for the set victory.
Utah Valley closed the fourth set out on an 8-2 run that featured two service aces, one from Palmer and a second from Tanuvasa, with three errors from UTA. Broadbent got the final kill for UVU to clinch the victory.
Tori Dorius and
Avery Shewell had ten kills for UVU, as
Caleigh Vagana had five blocks to lead UVU to 15 blocks in the contest.
Abbie Miller and Palmer each had over 20 assists, with Miller having 26 and Palmer with 20.
The Wolverines now move on to the semifinals tomorrow night and will play the winner of No. 8 Southern Utah and No. 1 UTRGV. The match will be played at 6:00 p.m. MT and broadcast on ESPN+.
