BOSTON – Utah Valley University defeated Northeastern University (17-25,25-14,25-20,25-23) on Saturday afternoon. UVU (5-3) won their fifth straight game. Kazna Tanuvasa had a season-high 16 kills, as three other Wolverines added ten or more kills in the match. Abbie Miller and Natalie Palmer combined for 50 assists in the victory. Northeastern (3-6) kept the final two sets close, but UVU closed out the sets for the victory.
 
Northeastern got off to a quick start in set one, racing out to a 6-2 lead. The Wolverines pulled back within three in the middle of the set after kills from outside hitters Tanuvasa and Tori Dorius at 13-10. UVU looked to respond but could not rally enough in the end, with NU scoring four out of the last five points in the set to win 25-17.
 
Kalea Kennedy provided a spark off the bench in the second set with four kills to aide UVU to a 13-5 lead. The Huskies made a small run to get the set back to 13-8 before the Wolverines took control of the second set. Chloie Brinton had a service ace, and a kill from Hailey Cuff put the set away at 25-14.
 
UVU and NU played to an 8-8 tie in the third set before each team went on a run. The set saw eight ties and five lead changes. The Wolverines struck first with six straight points to lead 14-8 with kills from Jules Fink and Tanuvasa before Miller provided a service ace and a kill. Northeastern scored the following five points to bring the set back to 14-13. The match was tied at 17 when UVU pulled away with five straight points. Tanuvasa and Kennedy started with kills, and Palmer added a service ace to lead UVU to a third-set 25-20 victory. The set saw eight ties and five lead changes.
 
UVU trailed 11-10 in the fourth set before scoring the next five points, with Brinton serving to go up 15-11. The set was tied at 17 when Avery Shewell and Tanuvasa had kills and two attack errors giving the Wolverines a 21-17 lead. The Huskies would come within one point twice in the closing points of the match, with Tanuvasa closing it out with a 25-23 victory.
 
Northeastern was led by Erica Staunton, who had a game-high 18 kills, and Jessica Frannea, who had 38 assists in the match.
 
Utah Valley will return to the Beehive state for the next four matches against other Utah schools starting on Sept. 13 in Logan against Utah State before coming back to host Weber State on Sept. 15. The final two in the stretch will be played at No. 10 BYU on Sept. 17 and Utah Tech on Sept. 22. Tickets are still available for the match against Weber State at the tab above.