The Utes will make their second-to-last road trip of the season this weekend when they travel to California one last time to take on Cal and Stanford. This will be Utah’s second trip to California in the last three weeks.
The Utes will start off the road trip against the Golden Bears on Thursday night. In their last meeting this season the two teams went to five sets, but the Utes couldn’t pull out the win on their home court and lost the match.
Cal’s record is currently identical to the Utes’ — both teams share a 9-18 overall record and a 3-13 conference record. If the Utes can pull off a win, they will be able to make a small jump up in the Pac-12 standings and avoid sitting in last place. Utah may be on a four-game losing streak, but Cal’s current five-game losing streak should be a sign of hope for those looking for a Ute victory.
The Golden Bear offense is balanced, with three players having recorded over 200 kills on the season. Lillian Schonewise leads this group with a 3.14 kills per set average and a .382 hitting percentage. Alyssa Jensen leads the team with 10 assists per set on the season. On the defensive end, Maddy Kerr has a team-high 404 digs, and Jenelle Jordan leads the team with 82 blocks.
But despite all that, Cal ranks dead-last in the Pac-12 in blocks and second-last in the league in opponent hitting percentage. This will be an opportunity for Adora Anae to explode for another big game. Last time against the Golden Bears, she recorded 27 kills on a record-setting night.
Utah will look to get Eliza Katoa and Carly Trueman involved as well to create a balanced attack that can exploit Cal’s weak defense.
“Beating Cal at Cal is tough,” said head coach Beth Launiere. “They’ve got some really good players. There is so much about their slide attack. We are going to have to defend that.”
The following night, Utah will take on No. 7 Stanford, who has an 18-6 overall record and has only dropped four matches in Pac-12 play. The only time the Cardinal have lost at home this season was against USC in five sets.
Hayley Hodson has 323 kills for Stanford and is one of three players on the team to average more than three kills per set. Merete Lutz leads the team with a .384 hitting percentage, which puts her at fourth in the Pac-12, and Madi Bugg averages 10.99 assists per set, first in the Pac-12.
Oddly enough, Stanford only ranks in the top three in two categories — blocks and team hitting percentage. In every other statistical category, the team is in the middle of the pack as far as Pac-12 rankings are concerned, yet the team is currently fourth in Pac-12 standings. Utah will have a tough time getting past the overall success that Stanford is able to put together, but with some big contributions from their star players Utah is capable of pretty large tasks.
Going on the road can be difficult. Playing in front of opposing fans can be even more difficult, and Katoa knows this.
“The biggest thing we talk about is supporting each other as a team,” Katoa said. “Even more so when we are on the road because the crowd is cheering against us, and there are some mean fans.”
Even in the face of a hostile crowd, the Utes hope to pull off a win or two on their last trip to the sunny shores of California this week.
@Twelvegage96