OREM, Utah – Utah Valley women's volleyball returns home to Lockhart Arena after two weeks on the road for a pair of matches, starting with Abilene Christian on Thursday, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m. MT. UVU will host Barbie Night for this match. Fans who dress up like Barbie or Ken will be admitted for free.
Utah Valley will look to avenge an early season loss in the second meeting of the season with the Tarleton State Texans on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 1:00 p.m. MT.
The matches this weekend will air on ESPN+ and will have live stats available on UVUstats.com.
The Wolverines will look to rebound after being swept last weekend on the road at Grand Canyon and California Baptist. UVU was led by
Avery Shewell, who finished with 16 kills against GCU and had 28 on the weekend.
Tori Ellis had 15 against CBU on Saturday in the loss and finished with 25 kills over the two matches.
Freshman libero
Lani Matavao had one of her best matches of the season against the Lancers as she tied her career-high with 25 digs.
ABOUT ABILENE CHRISTIAN
The Wildcats will enter Lockhart Arena at 10-12 and 5-5 in the WAC. They are tied right now with UT Arlington and California Baptist for fourth in the conference. ACU is second in the conference in team service aces and is led by Abby Christian with 30 and Madeline Guffy adding 29. Keep an eye on middle blocker Breanna Box, who is second in the WAC with a .328 hitting percentage. Abilene Christian will look to rebound after losing on Monday night to travel partner Tarleton State.
ABOUT TARLETON STATE
The Texans are currently 12-12 and 3-7 this season and are in ninth place. They won earlier this week and will look to secure the tiebreaker with Utah Valley. Outside Allison Bryant leads the team with 312 kills and 3.32 kills/set. Middle blocker Emma Burke has 33 service aces and 97 blocks this year.
FIRST TIME VISITORS
This weekend will mark the first visits to Lockhart Arena for both Abilene Christian and Tarleton State. This will be the fourth all-time meeting between UVU and ACU. The two teams have played on a neutral site in Denton, Texas, and twice in Abilene. The Wolverines have met the Texans for previous times, all in Stephenville. When Southern Utah travels up north on Nov. 9, it will be their first trip since joining the Western Athletic Conference.
BLOCK PARTY
Utah Valley senior Ellis and redshirt sophomore
Kendra Nock are climbing the all-time record for blocks. In fact, entering this weekend, Nock leads Ellis by two total blocks for seventh all-time. They are also very close in block assists, with Nock holding a two-block advantage over Ellis.
100TH CAREER MATCHES
Setter
Abbie Medeiros will play in her 100
th career match on Thursday against ACU, there is only one Wolverine that has played in more matches as
Tori Ellis currently is at 107.
Kazna Tanuvasa holds the school record for 138 career matches.
UP NEXT
Utah Valley will have their own first next week with their first trip to UT Arlington on Nov. 2 and Stephen F. Austin on Nov. 4. The regular season will then conclude with home matches on Nov. 9 against SUU and Nov. 11 against Utah Tech.
