The Utah Valley women's volleyball team travels for the first time this year to the East Coast for the Kristen Dickmann Invitational at the United States Naval Academy. The Wolverines meet the host Navy on Sept. 1 at 5:00 p.m. MT before facing Old Dominion at 9:00 a.m. MT on Saturday, and facing off against Maryland at 11:30 a.m. MT.
The Navy match will air on ESPN+, with the matches against Maryland and Old Dominion will be streamed on Youtube.com/GoUVU.
The Wolverines went 1-2 on the opening weekend after an opening season loss to NC State. UVU rebounded for their first win over Utah since 2009 in a four-set battle in their evening match in front of 1,232 fans. The tournament concluded with a five-set contest that came down to the final two points of the match to determine the winner.
Avery Shewell led the offensive attack for the Wolverines with 41 kills on the weekend to average 3.15 kills per set, and senior
Tori Ellis chipped in 34 kills over the weekend. Setter
Abbie Medeiros helped with the strong offensive attack with 58 assists.
Utah Valley had a pair of freshmen standouts in the first week, as setter
Evalyn Chism tallied 55 assists on the weekend, and
Lani Matavao had 63 digs to win her first WAC Libero of the Week honor.
Caleigh Vagana capped the first weekend with 22 blocks, which puts her at No. 8 in the country in total blocks entering this weekend. She is tied with SFA's Izabella Ortiz for the WAC lead. Vagana had nine against both NC State and Utah.
ABOUT NAVY
The Midshipmen are currently 2-1 on the season after getting wins over Syracuse and Albany. Their lone loss in the tournament came to UCF. Jamie Llewellyn leads Navy with 38 kills on the season and averages 4.55 points per set. Setter Averi Miller had 95 assists on opening weekend as Navy won both matches in two sets.
ABOUT OLD DOMINION
The Monarchs went 2-0 last weekend and won a mid-week match against in-state foe William and Mary. Bryanna Jones and Myah Conway average over 4.00 points a set to lead the ODU attack. Jones enters this weekend first on the team with 43 kills, and Conway a close second with 39. They limited opponents at the net during the first week to only a .194 hitting percentage.
ABOUT MARYLAND
Sam Csire is a dual threat for Maryland, who leads them in both kills with 29 and six service aces. While leading the Terps in these two categories, she also leads them with 16 attack errors.
Setter Sydney Dowler averages 9.55 assists per match and will look to keep the offense on track this weekend.
MATAVAO WINS LIBERO OF THE WEEK
Matavao won the TicketSmarter WAC Libero of the Week award after 63 digs and an average of nearly five per set. She added more digs each match, with 18 against NC State, 20 against Utah, and 25 in the second match against NC State. It is the first time that she has won the award.
NEXT UP
UVU hits the road next week for the Bengal Invitational in Pocatello. The Wolverines will face Idaho State on Sept. 7 and Gonzaga on Sept. 8.
