Utah Valley swept Abilene Christian, 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-16) on Friday night at Moody Coliseum in the WAC Semifinals. UVU (15-10) advances to its first championship match since the 2022 season, when it lost to Stephen F. Austin in the finals. Bella Wooden led the charge with seven kills on ten swings to hit .700 in the match while adding six total blocks defensively.
 
UVU's balanced offensive attack saw five reach at least five kills, led by Sami Blackett, who had nine, and Avery Page with eight. Alyssa Erickson added seven, with Olivia Gloeckner finishing with five.
 
"I think we learned from our last match against Abilene Christian, and the team played very poised in moments when ACU challenged us," said UVU head coach Sam Atoa. "We executed the game plan tonight in tight situations and pulled away from them in the third set."
 
Utah Valley had an 8-5 lead before going on a 6-0 run to win the first set over ACU (13-17. The run started with a kill from Blackett before the UVU front row added a pair of blocks with Gloeckner, and Blackett worked with Wooden. A kill from Gloeckner ended the run and put the Wolverines in front 14-5. Wooden led an offensive attack with four kills but was just as strong at the net with four total blocks in the opening set. The Wolverines clinched the opening set on kills from outside hitters, Blackett and Page.
 
The fast start continued in the second set as the Wolverines jumped out to a 4-1 lead with two kills from WAC Player of the Year, Page, before Erickson joined in the action, adding a kill, with Natalie Riggs finishing the run with one of her two aces. The Wildcats, however, kept it close and tied the set up at ten with a kill from Hadlee Welch. UVU answered back and took advantage of ACU attack errors mixed in with a kill from Evalyn Chism to go up 13-10, but Abilene Christian fought back and later took the lead at 17-16. After the two sides traded points, Gloeckner put Utah Valley up with a kill before Page added one to make it 21-19. The Wolverines ended the set on 7-3 run to go up 2-0.
 
Abilene Christian took a 5-4 lead after a kill from Annaleise Sevier, but UVU answered with 7-0 run that featured three consecutive kills from Erickson before Lani Matavao dropped in two of her three service aces as the Wolverines went up 11-5. Later, Utah Valley led 15-10 before taking advantage of two Wildcat errors, pushing the lead to 17-10 before Riggs added her second ace of the game, and Page combined with Alyvia Jaffa on a block to go up 19-10. The pressure started to mount on the tournament host. Still, UVU showed why they are one of the top teams at the net in the country, with a block assist by Erickson and Jaffa, and later, Jaffa got it to match point with a solo block before Blackett's kill got them into the Championship.
 
Atoa said, "You expect great teams to be in the championship, and this is an exciting matchup. This is going to be a battle; Utah Tech has done a nice job this year. I hope our team is ready to execute our game plan and respond the way we did tonight."

Utah Valley will play Utah Tech on Saturday, Nov. 22, at 6:00 p.m. MT / 7:00 p.m. CT inside Moody Coliseum. The winner of the match will get the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.