OREM, Utah – UT Rio Grande Valley defeated Utah Valley University 3-1 (23-25,26-24,16-25,19-25) on Saturday Afternoon inside Lockhart Arena. UTRGV (22-5, 11-1) used long offensive stretches to pull away and was led by Sarah Cruz, who had 15 kills in the match. Utah Valley (16-8,10-2) kept the match close but could not make enough plays to win.

"Losing on Senior day is tough. You always want it to be a sweet and happy celebration for the seniors. I am proud of how the team played. We fought hard and gave ourselves opportunities to win but we made too many errors which cost. This is a resilient team and we will regroup and prepare for our final 2 matches. I am so appreciative of the great support we had today and for those that made today a special day for our seniors. We love them!" said UVU head coach Sam Atoa. 

Utah Valley had a good first set, featuring eight ties and seven lead changes. Tori Dorius came out firing for the Wolverines, tallying five kills in the opening set on 11 attempts. Abbie Miller added eight assists to give the UVU offense a spark. The Wolverines had two big runs in the opening set, giving them leads of 8-5 and later 19-15. UTRGV had a 7-1 run to close out the opening set.
 
The second set was hard fought on both sides. Each team went on a run late in the set, with UTRGV taking an 18-12 lead after a 4-0 run. The Wolverines responded with a 6-1 run to get within one at 19-18 and capped the set with a 7-2 run that was fueled by three kills from Avery Shewell and a Makayla Broadbent service ace.
 
Utah Valley took a 10-8 lead in the third set as the senior Broadbent added a second service ace and two kills during the early moments of the set. UVU was trying to mount a comeback in the third set after kills from Kennedy and Shewell but trailed 16-15. UTRGV pulled away with a 9-1 run to win the third set. Natalie Palmer helped UVU in the set, leading them with five assists and three digs.
 
UVU got out to a 13-12 lead after a 4-0 run with kills from Shewell, Dorius, and two attack errors. The Vaqueros scored the next five points to go up 17-13. Utah Valley started a comeback trailing later 20-16 with two kills from Kennedy, and a service error brought the Wolverines back within two. The Wolverines dropped the final set 25-19.
 
The loss snaps a nine-match winning streak. Leading the Wolverines were Dorius with 14 kills, Shewell added 13, and. Miller had 27 assists in the match, and Nixon added 18 digs. UVU celebrated the careers of three players, Tanuvasa and Broadbent added seven kills, and Ke'ilani Sedrick came in to provide three serves in their final home match.
 
Utah Valley will play the final two matches of the regular season on the road as they will head to Riverside on Nov. 10 to play California Baptist and then travel to Phoenix on Nov. 12 to close the regular season with Grand Canyon. The Wolverines will then head to the 2022 WAC Tournament in Edinburg, Texas, on Nov. 17-19.