This weekend the Utes will take a flight of nearly 600 miles to Los Angeles to face off against both USC and UCLA. This will be Utah’s sixth long road trip of the season and it has two more left, including a road trip to Colorado to finish off the season. All of this traveling can take its toll on players, who double as full-time students.
“It’s a difficult thing, and it is hard during the season,” said sophomore Eliza Katoa.
These road trips start Fridays, sometimes Thursdays, and the players usually wind up home late on Sunday or even early Monday morning. This severely cuts down the time the players have to complete their school work, but the players and coaches have learned how to handle this. They make sure everything is planned out and that the players complete what they can ahead of time, even setting apart time on road trips for the players to do homework.
“Time management is a huge thing,” Katoa said. “Making sure that you get your assignments done before you leave. [The coaches] set aside study hall on the road where we have to do homework. But you have to make sure you aren’t doing things last-minute.”
Along with the homework comes the stress of being away from home, staying in a different city and playing in an opposing court. The stress can mount and they always need a little something to calm them down.
“During my free time, I try to relax and get along with my teammates and have fun with them so we can forget about volleyball for a second,” said junior Tess Sutton.
“Wherever we are, we will go walk around and just see what’s around us,” Katoa added. “We do things as a team — sometimes we will go to really nice restaurants or go on walks to different places. That’s really calming.”
The road trips are tough on the players, but they seem to know exactly how to handle the stress that comes with traveling.
Anae named Offensive Player of the Week
On Monday, it was announced that sophomore Adora Anae had been named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week. Anae had a great weekend — she posted huge numbers as she led Utah to two victories. She recorded 20 kills, 16 digs and two blocks against Oregon and then notched 28 kills against Oregon State.
That 28-kill mark broke Anae’s own school record for most kills in a match during the rally scoring era, a record Anae has set three times so far this season. Anae is currently 25th in the nation with 4.26 kills per set and leads the Pac-12 in double-doubles with 14. She is the unquestioned star of this team and will continue to post big numbers as the season winds up.
New libero
Head coach Beth Launiere has never been afraid of experimenting with her lineups, and this showed recently as freshman Megan Shughrou has taken Sutton’s spot as starting libero. Sutton still retains a starting position, and often both players are on the court at the same time, effectively giving the Utes two capable liberos on the defensive end. Sutton has taken the change to a new position extremely well.
“It’s been good,” Sutton said. “It’s definitely different, but I understand what [the coaches] are doing. They were trying to do something new and have better serve receive and that’s what is going on right now.”
Even though Sutton is in a different position, she still supports Shughrou in her own transition.
“No matter if someone is in my position or not, I will always support her,” Sutton said.
So far the results from this change have helped the Utes win a pair of matches, and if this lineup continues to succeed, Launiere might stick with it for the long haul.
@Twelvegage96