OREM, Utah – The University of Utah defeated Utah Valley University, 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-23), on Friday night in Lockhart Arena. Utah (1-0) was led by Loryn Helgesen, who had 13 kills, while Kamryn Gibadlo also tallied 13 as the Utes hit .351 as a team. UVU (0-2) was led by
Madi Standifird, who had 13 kills, hit .417, and added seven digs.
Evalyn Medaris finished with five kills, 24 assists and five digs.
Lani Toutai finished with eight digs to pass Camie Manwill for eighth all-time on the career digs list.
Utah Valley kept pace with Utah in the first set after falling behind 3-0. The Wolverines rallied to get within one on three separate occasions, but a 4-1 Utah run around the media timeout proved to be the difference in the set.
Alyvia Watkins tallied two kills and added a block in the first set, including a kill that made it 9-7 in favor of the Utes. Senior setter
Evalyn Medaris added two kills, four assists and two digs in the opening frame. Utah pulled away late with a 6-1 run to secure the opening set, 25-17.
The Wolverines used a 3-0 run in the second set to take a 9-5 lead and force a Utah timeout following a block assist by Watkins and Medaris at the net and a pair of Ute errors. Utah Valley hit .714 on its first seven attacks during the stretch to build a 12-9 lead, but a 10-4 Utah run swung the set in the Utes' favor and gave them a 19-16 advantage. Following a UVU timeout, the Wolverines went on a 5-1 run behind two kills from Standifird and a block assist by
Olivia Gloeckner and
Brielle Rueckert. Rueckert later added a kill to cut the Utah lead to 23-22, but the Utes closed out the set.
Standifird had her best set of the match in the third, tallying six kills on eight attempts to help the Wolverines build an early lead. Watkins, Medaris and Rueckert all had two kills as Utah Valley pushed its lead to 19-14 and appeared poised to force a fourth set. However, a late Utah rally swung the match, and the Utes held on to complete the sweep.
UP NEXT
The Wolverines will play Oregon State on Saturday, Aug. 29, at 4 p.m. MT to conclude the Utah Valley Invitational. Utah Valley will then travel to the South Dakota Classic, hosted by the University of South Dakota, next week.
