OREM, Utah – Utah Valley women's volleyball defeated Utah Tech 3-2 (25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 15-25, 15-11). It marks the second five-set win of the year for UVU (11-16, 8-8) and the ninth win over Utah Tech (9-17, 5-11) since 2006. The Wolverines were led by seniors
Tori Ellis, who had a team-high 13 kills, and
Abbie Medeiros had 31 assists to move past Kristi Lindley for fourth all-time in assists.
"It was an exciting match today. I was happy with the many lessons we learned. Happy for our seniors and for the hard work they put in every day to make us better. It was awesome to celebrate this win with them. They are tremendous young ladies, and we now focus on the WAC tournament and expect that what we have learned through the season will benefit us next week," said UVU head coach
Sam Atoa.
Utah Tech used a run when leading 12-11 to pull away and win the fourth set while limiting UVU to just three kills in the entire set to take the momentum into the fifth set. It was the Wolverines who took an early 2-0 lead and took advantage of errors by Utah Tech to regain an 8-5 lead.
Charity Wilson aided UVU late in the match, coming up with a pair of blocks when she paired up with
Kendra Nock and
Caleigh Vagana while adding two kills of her own in the final set. The seniors Ellis and Vagana came up with the final two kills to put UVU over the top for the victory.
Ellis had three of her 13 kills in the first 12 points of the match, leading UVU on a 9-3 lead to take an early lead. The Trailblazers answered and closed the gap within one at 13-12 before kills from Ellis, Vagana, and
Avery Shewell swung momentum and gave UVU the push they needed to take the match's opening set. Shewell finished with five kills on eight swings in the opening set, with Ellis adding four kills on seven attacks.
Utah Tech responded by starting the second set with an 8-0 lead before UVU began chipping away and making it 9-5 after kills from Ellis and
Hailey Cuff, with a block assist by Vagana and an attack error by UTU. The Wolverines took their first lead at 15-14 after a block assist by Vagana and Ellis, but the set swung to the Trailblazers after they scored nine of the next 12 points and held on to win the set.
Utah Valley started fast in the third set after taking a 1-0 lead after a block assist by seniors Ellis and
Vittoria Price, and later, they took a 7-2 advantage after an attack error. UVU benefited from eight Trailblazer attack errors and held them to a match-low .103 hitting percentage. Shewell helped spark a run to give the Wolverines a 20-13 lead after two kills and a service ace, but the set was back to one at 20-19 before seniors Cuff, Medeiros, and Ellis had kills to help win the set.
Utah Tech's Kennedi Knudsen recorded a match-high 25 kills in the match. Ellis and Nock both recorded their 300
th career block in the win. Freshman libero
Lani Matavao had 22 digs, and
Avery Shewell had a double-double with 12 kills and 13 digs.
The Wolverines will now move to the WAC Tournament, where they will play on Thursday, Nov. 16, at 7:00 p.m. MT inside Lockhart Arena. The full bracket and opponent will be announced on Nov. 13 after the conclusion of the Tarleton State and Abilene Christian match. Tickets for the WAC Tournament are now on sale, with all games streaming on ESPN+.
