OREM, Utah – Utah Valley women's volleyball returns to Lockhart Arena this week for a pair of matches starting with Utah Tech on Thursday, Oct. 3, in the Old Hammer Rivalry for a 7:00 p.m. MT start and will be UVU's annual Lori Richards Memorial Pink Game. They close the weekend with Grand Canyon on Saturday, Oct. 5, at 1:00 p.m. MT.
BROADCAST INFO
This week's matches will air on ESPN+ with Matt Baiamonte and Kayli Doxey on the call in Orem. UVUstats.com will have live stats for the matches.
LAST TIME OUT
The Wolverines fell at California Baptist in their WAC opener before they bounced back with a 3-1 win at Seattle U on Monday night.
Sami Blackett led the offensive attack with 19 kills in the match, with middle blocker
Bella Wooden finishing with a career-high ten blocks on the night.
SCOUTING THE TRAILBLAZERS
Utah Tech enters the contest with an 8-4 overall record and finished 2-0 after the first week of conference play. Kennedi Knudsen leads the Trailblazers with 172 kills this season and is aided by middle blocker Taylor Snow, who leads them in hitting percentage at .249 and blocks with 56. Utah Valley leads the all-time series 9-0 and won both matchups last year.
SCOUTING THE LOPES
Grand Canyon is currently 8-5 and 1-1 in the WAC. The Lopes have the Preseason WAC Player of the Year, Tatum Parrott, who leads them with 147 kills. She missed both matches last weekend for GCU. The Lopes have made their first visit to Lockhart Arena in regular season competition since 2021in a matchup featuring two of the best blocking teams in the WAC and the country. Middle Trista Strasser leads them with 72 blocks this year.
WOODEN IS NO. 3
Utah Valley has a strong reputation for blocking, and junior
Bella Wooden is keeping that tradition alive. She is No. 3 nationally in blocks per set and has averaged 1.53 blocks/set to lead the WAC. She only trails Julia Haggerty (Boston College) at 2.04 and Purdue's Raven Colvin, who is at 1.80. Wooden has tallied 75 total blocks and is currently No. 8 in the country in that category.
THE IMPACT OF LORI RICHARDS
Former Utah Valley head coach Lori Richards passed away in 2004 after a battle with cancer. Richards led the UVSC women's volleyball program for 18 seasons from 1981 to 1998. She was named to the NJCAA Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2000 after finishing her career with 482 wins; she was named NJCAA Coach of the Year in 1998 after the Wolverines went 46-9 and finished third in the nation that season. The 46 wins in 1998 are the most ever in volleyball.
In her career, she finished with a 482-167 record and a .743 winning percentage. Richards led then UVSC to ten conference titles in the Scenic West Conference and an outstanding 145-33 record with a winning percentage of .815. She played collegiate volleyball at Long Beach City College and BYU.
CHISM NAMED SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE MONTH
Evalyn Chism earned the Perry Homes Scholar-Athlete of the Month award during September. The award combines a student-athlete's academic and athletic achievements. She was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Utah Valley Invitational and has won three WAC Setter of the Week honors to start the 2024-25 season. Chism is an elementary education major with a 3.75 GPA.
NEXT UP
The Wolverines will play one match next week, traveling to Stephenville on Oct. 12 for a 12:00 p.m. MT contest with Tarleton State. This will kick off a stretch of four matches in seven calendar days for UVU, with home dates against Seattle U, Abilene Christian, and California Baptist.
