OREM, Utah ­– Utah Valley University women's volleyball team beat Northern Arizona University (25-23, 25-17,25-15) on Saturday inside Lockhart Arena in Orem. UVU (3-3) had a season-high .349 hitting percentage in the match and featured 49 kills against NAU (1-4). Tori Dorius led the way with 14 kills, with eight coming in the third set, on her way to being named the tournament's MVP.
 
"We are focusing on the basics and sometimes have been overcomplicating things; today, we were able to slow down and get back to the plan and keep things simple. Our jobs as coaches are to remind them of the basics and get the team back on track," said UVU head coach Sam Atoa.
 
Utah Valley used a balanced offensive attack to win the first set 25-23 over NAU. Jules Fink gave UVU an 8-5 lead in the first set after a solo block, and a block assist with Kazna Tanuvasa. Fink went on to have three kills in the set. The Wolverines outhit the Lumberjacks .200 to .026 in the opening frame as UVU mounted a comeback after trailing 16-13. Abbie Miller provided a service ace to give UVU a much-needed spark. Avery Shewell and Fink gave UVU the lead at 19-18 with a block assist before UVU closed out the set with a 3-0 run that featured a Kalea Kennedy kill, a block assist from Dorius and Makayla Broadbent, and an NAU attack error.
 
Miller reached 1,000 career assists in the second set on her eighth assist of her game-high 20. Kennedy extended the UVU lead to 15-13 at the media break with her second kill of the set. She went on to have five in the second set, with two more coming after the break. Dorius added two kills for UVU in the final three points of the second set to give UVU a 25-17 victory. UVU had its highest attack percentage this year with a .536%.
 
The Wolverines closed out the third set with four kills from Tanuvasa and four block assists as Caleigh Vagana had two, with Hailey Cuff and Kennedy adding one. UVU went 13-8 in the third set after they ran off four straight points with four kills, two from Tanuvasa, one from Broadbent and Kennedy. Later, UVU went up 21-11 after scoring five out of six points with kills from Natalie Palmer, Dorius, and a service ace from Broadbent. The set closed with Utah Valley's Tanuvasa, Kennedy, and Broadbent having kills to secure the 25-15 victory.
 
Bryton Nixon had a match-high 23 digs and was named to the All-Tournament Team alongside teammate Broadbent, who had four kills, two aces, and two block assists in the match. The Wolverines added 16 blocks assists in the match to help defensively at the net. Taylor Jacobsen led NAU with 15 kills, and Kate Hatch had 19 assists in the match.
 
The Wolverines will head to the northeast to take on Harvard on Sept. 9 with a 5:00 p.m. MT start from Cambridge and will meet Northeastern on Sept. 10 for a 2:00 p.m. MT start. The Wolverines hold a 1-0 all-time against Harvard and Northeastern. UVU returns home for a match on Sept. 15 against Weber State with a trip to Logan to meet Utah State scheduled for Sept. 13.
 
Utah Valley Invitational All-Tournament Team
California: Lydia Grote
California: Tara DeSa
Northern Arizona: Taylor Jacobsen
Northern Arizona: Millie O'Ketter
Utah Valley: Bryton Nixon
Utah Valley: Makayla Broadbent
Tournament MVP: Tori Dorius, Utah Valley.