Volleyball falls to Utah, returns on four game losing streak

The women’s volleyball team suffered their fourth loss of the season last Tuesday against the University of Utah, 3-1.

After last year’s big victory over Utah, who were nationally ranked at the time, the Wolverines couldn’t bring themselves to overtake Utah this year.

“Utah played well,” said head coach Sam Atoa. “It was unfortunate because I felt like we had some great opportunities and we hope that we can continue to give ourselves those opportunities, and  that will happen”

After a close first set, UVU was the first to hit 25 on the scoreboard. Utah trailed by only one point. Later, when the score was tied, both teams took turns bouncing back on top by only one point each until Utah went up two points off an out-of-bounds and an error by UVU.

The Wolverines took the second set 25-23, putting them back in the game. Utah went on to take both the third and fourth sets, 25-22 and 25-21.

“It’s always good to play Utah, it’s always good to play teams in state,” said Atoa. “Utah has been good to us in that they continue to schedule us every year and I think that’s good for our program; it’s good for volleyball in the state.”

Despite the loss, the team finished with big stats. Senior All-Star Kayli Doxey led the offense with 19 kills.

Freshman Brookelyn Campbell started her UVU career off with a huge 43 assists.

Chelsey Heaps followed behind Doxey finishing with 10 kills and 11 digs, and senior Kathleen Stevens finished with 14 digs.

The Wolverines will be back in action at home on Sept. 16 when they play NJIT, their first Great West Conference opponent of the season.