OREM, Utah – Utah Valley women's volleyball team dropped a five-set match to Weber State (28-26, 25-19, 10-25, 15-25, 14-16) inside the Lockhart Arena on Thursday night. Weber State (6-4) stormed back after trailing 2-0 heading into the third set. Utah Valley (5-5) came up short after having late chances to close the match.
Caleigh Vagana made her first start of the season for UVU and had five kills and five blocks in the loss.
UVU used a balanced attack in the opening set to pull away as seven Wolverines had kills in the opening set.
Kalea Kennedy had three kills, including a kill that gave the Wolverines a 21-15 lead in the first set. Weber State rallied with a 6-0 run to tie the set at 21. WSU and UVU traded points until they were locked at 24.
Tori Dorius had a kill to make it 25-24 before an attack error made it 26-24 UVU. WSU challenged the call before the call was upheld, giving UVU the opening set.
The two teams played to 10, all in the second set. UVU used a quick 5-0 run to take a 15-10 lead. Dorius had two kills during the run to help UVU hold a five-point lead. The Wildcats cut the lead to two at 16-14. The Wolverines used a 4-0 run to go up 23-16 after a kill from Kennedy and Tanuvasa. Kennedy added one final kill to win the set for UVU at 25-19.
Weber State started its comeback by winning the third set by a 25-10 and the fourth set at 25-15. This set up the Wolverines' second five-set match of the week. The Wildcats and Wolverines played to a 10-10 tie before Weber State took advantage of UVU errors to go up 12-10.
Bryton Nixon tied the fifth set up at 12 after a WSU error with a service ace.
Natalie Palmer added a service ace later to get UVU to match point. The Wildcats scored the following three points to win the set 16-14.
Dorius, Tanuvasa, and Kennedy all had double figures in kills for Utah Valley as Palmer added three service aces and 23 assists. Nixon had 20 digs in the match for UVU. Ashley Gneiting led Weber State with 16 kills, Makayla Sorensen with 14, and Saane Katoa with ten kills and eight blocks. WSU won the block battle 14-9.
The Wolverines will head to No. 15 BYU on Saturday for the UCCU Crosstown Clash with a 6:00 p.m. start in the Smith Fieldhouse. UVU starts conference play at Utah Tech on Thursday, Sept. 22, with a 6:00 p.m. start in the Burns Arena.
