UVU Volleyball takes sole possession of second place in WAC

Sweep Redhawks to earn their fourth win in five tries

Kyle Bruderer | Sports writer | @brudkyle

The Utah Valley University volleyball team improved their record to 8-9 overall and 4-1 in the Western Athletic Conference after defeating the visiting Redhawks of Seattle University in sweeping fashion on Saturday at the PE building (25-17, 25-16, 26-24). With Saturday’s victory the Wolverines have taken sole possession of second place in the WAC standings.

“I can watch that match over and over again,” said head coach Sam Atoa. “I felt like the girls executed very well. It was fun to see that dominance and to see us execute in areas of the game that we had been struggling with.”

UVU got off to a hot start and cruised through the first two sets with very little resistance as the Redhawks committed six service errors and struggled to even set up a decent pass. There were no SU players that recorded double-digit kills through three sets. Martina Samadan led her team with eight kills, but there was no answer for Atoa’s Wolverines.

“We knew that they were big, but we knew some of the tendencies and habits that they have,” Atoa said. “Sierra Starley did a nice job of distributing the ball in places that allowed us to take advantage of some of those matchups.”

The third and final set was much more competitive consisting of 14 ties and seven lead changes. The two WAC rivals found themselves tied up at 24 after a big kill by SU’s Cecilia Wu, but a pair of vicious kills from UVU’s Madison Dennison and Abby Jensen sealed the deal for the Wolverines.

Jensen led the way for UVU and recorded a match-high 13 kills while hitting .600 (13-for-20) and Dennison finished with 11 of her own hitting a smoking hot .846 (11-for-13). Starley also played exceptionally well with 33 assists, 9 digs, and 2 kills. Sabrina Tanner finished the match with four service aces and Kelcee Munk recorded three as well.

The Wolverines will face their toughest WAC opponent in the Aggies of New Mexico State (5-0 in the WAC) on the road Oct. 15, followed by another road match against UT Rio Grande Valley on Oct. 17.