OREM, Utah – Utah Valley volleyball concludes the 2022 regular season this weekend on the road for a pair of matches against California Baptist on Nov. 10 at 8:00 p.m. MT and Grand Canyon on Nov. 12 at 2:00 p.m. The Wolverines have already secured a spot in the WAC Tournament next week in Edinburg, Texas.
Utah Valley split a last week's matches with a 3-1 win over New Mexico State on Nov. 3 behind the season's largest home crowd of 2,067. UVU out blocked NM State by a 12-8 margin.
Caleigh Vagana had a career-high ten blocks, and
Tori Dorius added eight blocks to lead the defensive effort over the Aggies.
UTRGV defeated Utah Valley behind 15 kills from Sarah Cruz and ten kills from Luisa Silva Dos Santos. UVU made some runs to win sets late, but the Vaqueros made enough plays down the stretch to come out on top in the match. Dorius led the way with 14 kills as senior
Makayla Broadbent added seven kills and six block assists.
Natalie Palmer added a double-double with 14 assists and ten digs.
California Baptist enters 10-13 overall and 5-7 in WAC play. The Lancers went 1-1 last week with a sweep over Utah Tech and a loss to Southern Utah. They are currently tied for seventh in the WAC with NM State and are trying to make sure they qualify for the WAC Tournament. CBU is led by Christine Graf, who enters with 279 kills on the season. Leah Pease enters the match averaging 7.95 assists/set and is No. 6 in the WAC.
Grand Canyon enters 14-9 overall and 8-4 in WAC play and has won their last four matches. GCU is led by setter Klaire Mitchell who leads the conference with 11.53 assists/set. The match features two top freshmen in the conference, with Tatum Parrott for GCU, who is second in the conference with 3.73 kills/set, and three-time TicketSmarter WAC Freshmen of the Week
Avery Shewell for UVU.
The Wolverines will head next week to Edinburg, Texas, for the 2022 WAC Tournament hosted by UT Rio Grande Valley. The Quarterfinals will be played on Nov. 17, with an opponent to be determined. The semifinals are set for Nov. 18, and the Championship match is slated for 7:00 p.m. CT on Nov. 19.
