Considering the adverse situations the University of Utah volleyball team was facing before the season, who would have thought that the team would have won its first conference title and be hosting NCAA Tournament matches in November?
“We have broken so many barriers this year, and the program has come so far,” Ute coach Beth Launiere said.
At the start of the season, the Utes were predicted to finish third overall in the conference, behind BYU and Colorado State. It was improbable that the Utes would come close to hosting tournament matches, since BYU and Colorado State looked as if they completely outmatched Utah.
However, the entire scope of the Mountain West Conference and the Utes’ program changed on Oct. 19, when the Utes defeated the Cougars at Crimson Court in five games.
After being down in the fourth game by 7 points, the Utes came back to win the game, and subsequently the match.
“We played with a lot of pride and courage, and I am so proud of them,” Launiere said afterward.
The team carried that sense of pride and courage throughout the rest of the season, as the Utes only lost two of their last 13 matches.
A win over Colorado State marked the end of the Rams’ undefeated season and gave the Utes a sense that they could win the conference.
“This might have been the hardest-earned match that I have ever won,” Launiere said after CSU was dealt its first blow.
That would have been true if Launiere would have known how tough the Mountain West Conference championship match was going to be. After defeating BYU in the semifinals, Colorado State loomed in the title match for revenge.
After winning the first two games, Colorado State seemed as though it would sweep through the entire tournament. However, the “pride and courage” instilled in the Ute players enabled the team to come back to win the match 3-2.
“The way they played and came back to win inspired me by just watching them,” Launiere said.
Each individual player has progressed throughout the year, and the tough situations the Utes were facing at the beginning of the year are not hurting them as much as many thought they would.
The setting situation was looking horrid before the season, when Utah was looking at the possibility of having to start one of two freshmen at the position.
However, once the team eventually switched to sophomore Jackie Morrill as a primary setter, it solidified the setting situation and allowed frosh Kelsie Kartchner to become a reliable threat off the bench.
But the driving force of the team has been the diversified attack. With McKelle Stilson, Adrianne Drake, Sylva Strzinkov, Kim Turner and Alisa Geddes, all viable attackers, teams are finding it tough to defend all of them.
“Utah runs the 6-2 [system], which is so tough to guard because of the fact that they have three options for attacking the ball every time a set goes up,” Colorado State star Angela Knopf said.
Turner has been an amazing force in the middle, dominating the MWC Tournament and earning the MVP award of the tourney.
She was named Mountain West Player of the Week three times during the course of the season. “The bigger the game, the better Kim plays,” Launiere said.
Through all the accomplishments of the players and all the barriers the team has crossed, the team is finally hosting matches in the NCAA Tournament.
After going undefeated at home this year, playing NCAA matches there will give them a better shot at the elusive Sweet 16, after having been knocked out in the second round the past three years.
Though they haven’t been able to knock off powerhouses Nebraska and Hawaii in years past, the regional group coming to the Utes’ house includes first-round opponent Texas Tech? which Utah defeated in a season-opening tournament this year, not to mention the first round of NCAAs last year?as well as in state foes BYU and Utah State, both of whom Utah won against this season.
Ultimately, the Utes know they are closer to their goals than ever before. Now, when they start playing Thursday night at 7 p.m., they just have to do what they’ve done all along.
“If we stick together and play up to our capabilities, then we can go as far as each individual player wants to go,” Drake said.