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The Daily Utah Chronicle

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Volleyball: Utes split matches on their California road trip

Members+of+the+U+volleyball+team+align+themselves+before+the+serve+in+the+2015+Utah+Classic+against+the+Idaho+State+Bengals+in+the+Jon+M.+Huntsman+Center%2C+Friday%2C+August+28%2C+2015.
Chris Samuels
Members of the U volleyball team align themselves before the serve in the 2015 Utah Classic against the Idaho State Bengals in the Jon M. Huntsman Center, Friday, August 28, 2015.

One Up, One Down • The Utes split their matches this weekend, gaining a victory against California but losing to Stanford. In its first match of the weekend, Utah took the Golden Bears to five sets. Utah took seven of the first 11 points in the fifth set and eventually won the match with a 15-10 win. Against Stanford, Utah dropped three straight sets, never able to be within five points at the end of any of the sets. The Utes actually were leading 9-4 to start off the first but ended up dropping the set 25-19 after Stanford called a timeout. Utah dropped the next two sets 25-15 and 25-18.

Career-high nights for everyone • Three Utes had career nights in Utah’s win against Cal. Freshman Megan Shughrou returned to her libero position after being injured last week. She recorded 29 digs, shattering her previous high of 22. Sophomore Carly Trueman also had a career-high with 15 kills, second on the team for the night, which was enough to help propel the Utes to a win. The third Ute to set a career-high on the night was sophomore Eliza Katoa. At 5-foot-10, Katoa isn’t often thought of as an intimidating presence at the net, but she proved her worth as a blocker against the Golden Bears. She recorded a career-high six blocks on the night. Brenna DeYoung added seven blocks to that total, and Berkeley Oblad pitched in five blocks herself.

Aces up their sleeves • The Utes were masters of serving on their road trip, which played a crucial role in their win against Cal and helped keep them close at times to Stanford. The Utes had 12 aces over their two matches — Shughrou had three against Cal and two against Stanford, and Jessie Jorgensen added two against both teams. Serving has been an area that has either been a key factor in the Utes gaining victories, such as when they serve as well as they did on this trip, or an obvious reason for their losses, such as when they lost to Arizona State last week because of crucial serving errors.

Star Watch • Adora Anae was her usual self against the Golden Bears. She led the Utes while tying her own school record for kills in a match with 28. She hit a .227 percentage and led the offense the entire night. She also added 11 digs for yet another double-double. Against Stanford, however, Anae seemed to slip in her production. She led the team in kills, but only with nine. On 39 attempts she only hit at a .051 percentage. She couldn’t get it going against the No. 7 team in the country and couldn’t find a rhythm.

Coach’s Corner • “We worked on our serving, blocking and defense a lot this week. Pretty exclusively. I think at this time of year it’s just really about how well you’re playing,” said head coach Beth Launiere.

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