The No. 20 U volleyball team defeated visiting Mountain West contenders UNLV and San Diego State on Friday and Saturday night at Crimson Court. The pair of victories extended the Utes’ home winning streak to 14 matches.
In the first match, the Utes dispatched UNLV three games to one, having dominated the Rebels in two of those games, 30-18, 24-30, 30-18, 30-26.
Lyndsey Henderson led the U charge at the net, amassing a career-high 13 blocks. “We held (UNLV) defensively and that’s how we win matches,” U volleyball coach Beth Launiere said.
Their homestand success continued Saturday night against the 1-16 Aztecs. While the team had a clear advantage going into the match, Launiere was tired of the Utes giving up games. “We wanted a sweep tonight,” she said.
A sweep is what they got. Towering over their opponents, Utah’s front line averaged five blocks a game and totaled 53 kills in the three-game Ute victory (33-31, 30-24, 30-21).
But the Aztecs were tough, especially in the first game, where there were five lead changes and the score was tied 19 times. San Diego State pulled ahead 13-9 for its biggest lead of the night. However, some powerful outside hitting by Shelly Sommerfeldt and a few key blocks from Amie and Emillie Toone pulled the Utes within two.
They eventually tied the game at 15. Later, Sommerfeldt, facing an Aztec game point, had another crucial kill to tie the game at 30. A few plays later, Henderson added one more of her nine total kills in the first game to give Utah the advantage at 32-31. A long hit by San Diego State gave Utah the win in the closest game of the night.
“A key adjustment that we made after the first game was to focus our passing more towards the net,” Launiere said. “By utilizing our size advantage, we worked to establish the middle to open up more options.”
That adjustment led to a 19-10 lead for the Utes in game two.
They never looked back once as they rolled to victory, improving their streak this season to 10 wins and a perfect 5-0 MWC record. The record for Utah volleyball is 11 straight wins and they will have their chance to tie that next week against Colorado State.
Kara Moriarty and Ashley Bowker led the Aztecs with 14 and nine kills, respectively. The Aztecs’ defense, however, only came up with five total blocks giving up an average of 18 kills from Utah in each game.
The Utes missed on 11 serves Saturday night, but as long as they are serving aggressively, the coaching staff isn’t worried.
“If we keep serving tough like we have been lately, we will be better off,” Launiere said.
Henderson put up gaudy numbers against SDSU, following a career night against UNLV. She ended up with 14 kills and 7 blocks in the 3 game match, with a hitting percentage above .400.
“Lyndsey continues to do it for us. After struggling a little bit against New Mexico, she has come back with two huge games and, being a senior, has been very important as a leader,” Launiere said. The Utes could move up in the polls, but the team has maintained its composure despite the national attention.
The buzz around the locker room about their current national ranking in the USA Today Poll is not talked about much by Launiere.
“The girls know they have been winning games and getting some national recognition in the process, but taking it one game at a time has been the strategy from the start and they aren’t going to stray from that mentality.”
As for the opportunity to tie the 11-game winning streak record next week against CSU, Launiere knows what the true goal for the team is.
“It would be nice, but winning the conference championship is what we are focused on doing,” Launiere said.
The Utes will get a chance to extend their home winning streak in a little more than a week, as the match at Crimson Court will be at 1 p.m. against BYU Oct. 23.