Volleyball suffers setback with 0-2 start

Utah Valley women’s volleyball team starts the season off 0-2 after losing both of their matches at the Utah Invitational.
The first match was against the University of Utah and the Wolverines fell 3-0 (19-25, 10-25, 22-25).

The second was closer, against University of California-Santa Clara, but they just could not close it out, losing in five, 2-3 (18-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-22, 0-15). Still, the losses were not all bad.

“I saw some bright spots for us tonight against a tough team,” Utah Valley head coach Sam Atoa said after the loss to Utah. “We’re a young team, but there were some very encouraging moments with our young
players.”

The young players certainly led the way at the Utah Invitational. In the two matches, freshman Chelsey Garfield and redshirt freshman Jaicee Kuresa combined to have 33 kills and 15 total blocks.

Sophomore Kayli Broadbent also had 14 kills and five total blocks in the two matches at
the Utah Invitational.

Underclassmen were not the only standouts. Junior Kristin Anderson also made her presence felt in the two matches, having 12 kills and 13 total blocks. She also led all blockers against Utah with seven.

With a 0-2 record and a tough five set loss against Santa Clara, the lady Wolverines and coach Atoa are looking to the future.

“It’s unfortunate that this is the way this match turned out because I thought our team really battled,” Atoa said after the Santa Clara match. “The result is not a fair indication of how the match went. We have to live with it and learn from it, though.

That’s all we can ask, and that’s what we’ll do.”

The Wolverines try to get their season back on track with three matches, Sept. 5 and 6 at the Jayhawk Invitational in Lawrence, Kansas. The lady Wolverines then come home Sept. 12 and 13 at the UVU Invitational against North Texas and Idaho State.