Box Score LOGAN, Utah – Utah State University defeated Utah Valley University, 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-18), on Thursday night inside the Wayne Estes Center. USU (1-8) was led by former Wolverine Sami Blackett, who finished with 20 kills in the match, while Addy Cook added 18. UVU (2-9) was led by Miley Thunstrom, who had 14 kills in the match for the Wolverines.
 
Evalyn Medaris finished with 31 assists and eight digs in the match, with eight kills from Alyvia Watkins for the Wolverines. Brielle Rueckert finished with seven kills.
 
Lani Toutai stepped to the service line with the Wolverines trailing 11-10, then tied it on a service ace after a UVU challenge overturned the original call. The Wolverines went on a 5-0 run to extend their lead to 16-11, with Thunstrom adding a pair of kills, including one she dropped into the opposite court. The run ended with a block assist from Medaris and Rueckert. Utah Valley capitalized on five Utah State service errors in the first set to earn the opening-set win on the road.
 
The Aggies responded in the second set, hitting .471 with no attack errors to build a 10-6 lead and force Utah Valley to call its first timeout. Utah State extended the lead to 15-8 with a 4-0 run. The Wolverines kept chipping away and got back within four points several times, including after kills from middle blocker Rueckert, who had four kills through the first two sets. Thunstrom led the Wolverines with eight kills through the first two sets.
 
In the third, the two in-state foes traded blows and were tied at 10-10. A Utah State attack error gave the Wolverines an 11-10 lead. After a 12-12 tie, UVU went on a 3-0 run to take a 15-12 lead, including the 15th point of the set, which came on a long rally between the two sides before Rueckert finished with a kill. USU responded and eventually built a 20-17 lead in the third set. Olivia Gloeckner had three kills for the Wolverines in the set.
 
Utah State jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the fourth set and used a 5-0 run to build a 9-2 advantage before Chloe Hansen killed a ball down the line to make it 9-3. The Wolverines fought back and cut the Aggie lead to 13-8 after Thunstrom recorded three consecutive kills during a 4-0 run, forcing a USU timeout. Utah Valley continued to chip away at the deficit and made it 15-13 before the Aggies used an 8-1 run to pull away and clinch the match.
 
UP NEXT
Utah Valley will conclude nonconference action on Saturday, Sept. 19, with a 3 p.m. MT match against Weber State. The Wolverines will open their inaugural Big West schedule on Thursday, Sept. 24, against UC Riverside in Lockhart Arena.