CEDAR CITY, Utah – Utah Valley University defeated Southern Utah University, 3-1 (25-17, 25-16, 22-25, 25-23) on Thursday night at the America First Event Center. UVU (16-7, 7-4) had their second-highest hitting percentage of the season at .372. Steliyana Chakarova set a career-high with 12 kills on 18 swings and hit .611 in the match. SUU (8-14, 4-7) was led by Andrea Spasojevic and Finley Charapata, who had 13 kills each.
 
"It was great to see us respond so well tonight after an emotional match on Saturday. Our offense was great in helping us get out to a fast start. It was a total team effort to allow us to beat a good Southern Utah team. We will continue to build off this and be ready for a very good Utah Tech team on Saturday," said UVU head coach Sam Atoa.
 
Utah Valley trailed 11-10 before Avery Shewell recorded five consecutive offensive points to help UVU come back. She finished the set with seven of her match-high 17 kills while hitting .778. The entire team was on fire during the first, with Sami Blackett helping the Wolverines secure the first with her six kills while hitting .750. Bella Wooden had two kills and hit .667, and Chakarova finished with four kills on five attacks, which resulted in a .800 hitting percentage.
 
The Wolverines got out to a 7-1 lead early in the second after a kill from Blackett, and Wooden blocked Charapata at the net before Southern Utah committed three straight attack errors. Wooden stayed hot with a kill before she teamed up with Shewell and Evalyn Chism with blocks to take an 11-4 lead. Utah Valley pushed their lead to 21-14 before outscoring the Thunderbirds 5-2 to secure the set. Maranda Woolf provided a kill and a block assist during the run, with Molly Cummard coming in to serve and giving UVU one of their six aces on the night.
 
A 7-2 run in the third set gave UVU a 7-4 lead and poised for a sweep on Halloween night, but SUU found a way to keep it close. The Thunderbirds used a 6-1 run to take a 10-8 lead and finished the set, hitting .410 to get the third set. Shewell recorded five kills but was matched by Charapata and Carissa Richie.
 
Trailing 15-10 in the fourth set, the Wolverines mounted a comeback to outscore the Thunderbirds 15-8 the rest of the way. A 4-0 run with three kills from Blackett and one from Shewell made it 15-14. Shewell served with a chance to tie, but she found the net for a service error. Wooden killed a ball to make it 16-15, and back-to-back attack errors from SUU gave UVU the 17-16 lead. The UVU front row with Woolf and Chakarova helped get the set 22-19 before Southern Utah tied it up with a run of their own before giving the lead back with two service errors before Shewell's second ace sealed the match.
 
Chism finished the match with 40 assists to help the UVU offense. Libero Lani Matavao finished with 14 digs and six assists, while Natalie Palmer added 13 digs and five assists.
 
Utah Valley and Utah Tech will renew the Old Hammer Rivalry on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 7:00 p.m. MT inside Burns Arena. The Trailblazers won the match earlier this season with a sweep in Orem. UVU will travel next week to Texas for matches with Abilene Christian and UT Arlington.