OREM, Utah – Utah Valley University women's volleyball returns to the court after their 3-0 weekend as they travel to the Ellesyn Invitational hosted by the University of Montana. The Wolverines will open the tourney with the Grizzlies on Thursday, Sept. 5 at 6:00 p.m. MT before playing Southern Miss on Friday at 1:00 p.m. MT, before concluding on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 2:00 p.m. MT with Boise State.
 
All games from the tournament will air on ESPN+ with Ace Sauerwein on the call. Live stats will be available on UVUstats.com.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Wolverines won all three matches at the season-opening Utah Valley Invitational. The three wins included a pair of sweeps over Eastern Washington and Kansas City before knocking off CSU Bakersfield in a 3-1 match. Avery Shewell finished the weekend with 40 kills, seven service aces, and nine total blocks. Sophomore Evalyn Chism tallied 115 assists in the three games while adding ten kills and six blocks.
 
SCOUTING THE GRIZZ
Montana finished the GCU Invitational with a 1-2 record but won their final weekend match against Oregon State. They are led by Paige Clark, who had 30 kills and four service aces over the weekend. The Grizzlies had 32 total blocks and averaged 3.20 blocks/set, with Sierra Dennison having 14 blocks on the weekend. Montana was picked seventh in the Big Sky preseason poll.
 
SCOUTING THE EAGLES
Utah Valley and Southern Miss will meet for the first time in history. The Eagles finished 3-0 during the first week of play and are led by Sadie McAda, who finished with 40 kills while libero Sunni Sheppard tallied 48 digs and four aces. They are currently second in the Sun Belt in opponent-hitting percentage at 0.148. The Sun Belt coaches picked them to finish fifth in the West Division.
 
SCOUTING THE BRONCOS
The Broncos finished opening weekend at 2-1 at the Cactus Classic in Tucson with victories over Tennessee State and VCU. Boise State had 22 aces to lead the Mountain West, and Breanna Mitchell had 11 during the tournament. Freshman Kiki Remensperger earned Mountain West Freshman of the Week after having 31 digs, 44 assists, five aces, and four kills. This will be the first meeting between the two regional foes since 2019.
 
FAST START
Utah Valley is off to the second-best start in the program's Division I history, with a 3-0 record. The Wolverines need to win the next two matches to achieve the best start in program history. The 2009 team currently holds the mark with a 4-0 record, with victories against Gonzaga, Utah State, Weber State, and No. 17 Utah.
 
ATOP THE WAC
After one week of play, the Wolverines are leading the WAC in several categories, including kills per set (14.20), hitting percentage (0.313), assists per set (13.00), total blocks (32), and blocks per set (3.20). Among blocks, Utah Valley is currently No. 14 in the country in blocks per set and No. 15 in hitting percentage.
 
Sophomore setter Evalyn Chism leads the WAC and is No. 13 nationally in assists per set with 11.50 and leads the WAC in total assists with 115. Bella Wooden had a strong opening weekend, leads the WAC in hitting percentage (.500), and is second in total blocks (16).
 
UP NEXT
Utah Valley travels next week for the Classic City Clash in Athens, Ga. It will be the third and final regular season tournament on the schedule and features matches against Jacksonville, Boston College, and Georgia, who is receiving votes in the AVCA poll.