OREM, Utah – Utah Valley women's volleyball defeated UT Arlington 3-2 (25-15, 25-16, 22-25, 22-25, 15-10) on Thursday evening inside Lockhart Arena. UVU (12-16, 8-8) had four players record ten or more kills, led by WAC first-team selection
Tori Ellis, who had 15 kills in the match. UTA (20-10, 9-7) was led by Brianna Ford with 20 kills.
"We showed great resilience tonight and got a little frantic in the fourth set. UTA is such a good team, and Brianna Ford is a great player. We talked more about our approach in the first set, and we came out in the fifth set doing that. I was really proud of how they hung in there tonight for the win," said UVU head coach
Sam Atoa.
Kendra Nock made her presence felt in the middle during the opening set, as she led UVU with five kills and two blocks. The Wolverines had one of their best-hitting sets of the year at .517. The strong offensive start turned to defense as they held the advantage at the net 5-0. Ellis,
Caleigh Vagana, and Nock had two blocks in the set.
The Wolverines came back from an early 6-2 deficit for a 25-16 set victory. The tide started to turn during a 5-0 run to put UVU in front 11-9 after three of
Hailey Cuff's 11 kills, which matches a career-high for the senior. Utah Valley benefited late in the set from four service aces, two each from
Lani Matavao and Shewell.
The Mavericks rallied and won the third and fourth sets by a 25-22 score. UTA had the momentum heading into the fifth set, but Shewell came out on fire, recording seven kills in the set while swinging the set and match in UVU's favor.
The Wolverines benefited from a total of eight service aces, with three from Matavao and Shewell.
Abbie Medeiros finished with 29 assists and 12 digs, and
Evalyn Chism added 22 assists and ten digs.
The win marks the first time since 2018 that UVU has won back-to-back five-set matches when the Wolverines won three matches at the NC State/Campbell Invitational. They won all three matches in the tournament in five sets.
The Wolverines are back in action on Nov. 17 at 6:00 p.m. MT against the No. 1 seed Stephen F. Austin. The winner will advance to the WAC Championship and play the winner of No. 3 UTRGV and No. 2 Grand Canyon on Nov. 18 at 6:00 p.m. MT.
