OREM, Utah – Utah Valley women's volleyball opens conference play with a pair of road matches. UVU travels to Riverside for a match with California Baptist on Thursday, Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m. MT before returning home for the weekend and traveling to Seattle on Monday, Sept. 30 at 7:00 p.m. MT.
 
BROADCAST PLANS
Both matches are scheduled to air on ESPN+, with live stats on UVUstats.com. A majority of UVU's conference matches will be aired on ESPN+.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Wolverines went 2-1 with a four-set win over Weber State on Tuesday behind 22 kills from Sami Blackett and 12 from Madi Standifird. UVU hit the road on Thursday for a come-from-behind win in the Spectrum against Utah State. Avery Shewell finished with 21 kills in the match as Utah Valley rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win the fourth and fifth sets. The lone loss came on Saturday to No. 19 BYU in Provo.
 
SCOUTING THE LANCERS
California Baptist enters the start of conference play with a 0-12 record and has won just three sets all year. Outside, Eliana Posada leads CBU with 88 kills on the year and has been aided by Madison Gilliand, who is hitting .331 offensively and is their leading blocker with 33 blocks. Mia Jerue will be a player to watch for CBU as the libero has had 18 service aces this year and 133 digs.
 
SCOUTING THE REDHAWKS
Seattle U and UVU will meet for the final time as WAC foes in the Redhawk Center. The Wolverines have an 18-6 edge in the series, including having won 11 straight in the series. The Redhawks are led by a first-year head coach, Dan Behnke, and preseason All-WAC selection Arianna Bilby will handle the outside as she has tallied 94 kills this season. Merima Smajlovic's 16 aces have helped the team average 1.59 aces/set this year.
 
LEADING THE WAC
Sophomore Evalyn Chism is leading the WAC in assists with 447 this year and an average of 10.40 assists/set. The assists have been a catalyst for her teammates to help lead the conference or be near the conference leaders in other categories, including Avery Shewell in hitting percentage (.300) and kills per set (4.03). Blackett is sixth in kills per set with 3.62 and a total of 141 kills on the year. Wooden is second in hitting percentage with .333.
 
UP NEXT
The Wolverines will host two matches next week, starting with the Old Hammer Rivalry on Thursday, Oct. 3, at 7:00 p.m. MT against Utah Tech. The weekend will close with WAC Preseason favorite Grand Canyon visiting Lockhart Arena for a 1:00 p.m. MT clash on Saturday, Oct. 5.