By Cody Brunner

LOS ANGELES-The U volleyball team concluded its season-opening road stretch last weekend at the USC-LMU Classic in Los Angeles.

The Utes swept both North Carolina and Fresno State, but host USC proved too much, beating Utah 3-1. The loss to the Women of Troy brings the Utes’ record against ranked opponents to 0-2 this season.

Friday afternoon, the Utes started the tournament in a convincing fashion, disposing of North Carolina, 3-0.

Utah started the match off slightly sluggishly, hitting a measly .094 in the opening game. The Utes were able to find their rhythm in time, though, narrowly escaping with a 30-27 win.

With the second game of the match came steady improvement for the Utes. Sophomore outside hitter Airial Salvo brought plenty of heat, racking up six kills, to lead Utah to a 30-23 victory.

Whitney Webb started the third game off with a pair of punishing kills to set the tone, and the Utes took an 11-3 lead early. From then on, Salvo took over, recording five kills in the final frame to lead the team to a .448 hitting and a 30-9 win.

The U defense kept the Tar Heels in check for the final game, holding them to an embarrassing -.103 hitting average. Salvo tallied 15 kills and 18 digs in the match to pace the Utes.

Outside hitter Webb also had a solid showing, hitting .368 with nine kills. The Utes out-hit the Tar Heels on the match, .229-.026.

Despite jumping out to a slow start, U head coach Beth Launiere was pleased with the overall performance of her team.

“We came out kind of slow and didn’t have too much focus at the start,” Launiere said. “But we kept challenging them to execute and compete, and eventually we settled down and just got into the flow.”

Webb concurs with her coach, but thinks communication was the key.

“We were kind of just going through the motions in games one and two. In game three, we started playing more as a team and communicating more,” Webb said.

Despite the team’s improved communication, the Utes couldn’t overcome USC’s stout defense and aggressive attacks in game one, losing by a score of 30-25.

In the second game, Utah fell behind early and was never able to mount a comeback, falling once again by a score of 30-21.

The Utes battled back in the third game, winning a hard-fought battle 32-30.

“I really liked the way we came out and won game three. We showed a lot of poise and determination in winning that game, and that matters,” Launiere said.

The strong comeback in game three took a lot out of the Utes, and it showed in the fourth and concluding game of the match with the Women of Troy edging Utah, 30-24.

Launiere was impressed with USC’s play, but thought that the Utes competed throughout.

“I think that USC came out and played tremendous defense. They dug a lot of our attack tonight,” Launiere said. “That meant that we had to raise our level of play, and I think we did. There was a lot of ebb and flow for us out there, but I believe we showed up and played well.”

Salvo had yet another stellar performance, recording 17 kills and 21 digs to lead the Utes. Webb had a double-double of her own that night, racking up 10 kills and 10 digs opposite Salvo. Emillie Toone racked up 12 of the Utes’ 15 blocks, but the team was out-hit .246-.206.

The Ute offense was held in check all night, mostly by senior All-American libero Debora Seilhammer, who tacked up 32 digs. Diane Copenhagen led the Women of Troy’s offense with 23 kills.

On the third day of competition, the Utes set the tone early, going on a 5-0 run to start the first game against the Bulldogs. Fresno State fought back with a five-point run of its own to tie the score at 5-5. The Utes opened up another lead on a 9-1 run later in the game, making the score 23-12. From there, Utah sustained that lead for the rest of the contest with a final score of 30-19.

In the second game, the Utes jumped out to a 19-12 lead and never looked back, winning the contest with a score of 30-18. Utah finished the sweep off with emphasis, hitting .314 in the third game to beat the Bulldogs 30-17. Toone led the Utes, hitting .462 with seven kills.

Salvo recorded her fourth-straight double-double with 12 kills and 17 digs.

Libero Connie Dangerfield tallied four of the Utes’ six aces in the match.

Throughout the match, the Bulldogs only led for seven serves.

After an above-par weekend, the Utes are excited about their performance.

“Even though we lost to USC, we were still competing with them. We’re still only a few points away from beating one of the top teams, so we’re happy with the way we played,” Dangerfield said.

The Utes will try to improve upon their 3-2 record this weekend when they play their first home matches of the season at the Utah Liberty Bank Classic. Missouri State, Temple and Utah State await the U in its home-opening tournament.

Kamil Krzaczynski

Freshman Sydney Anderson spikes the ball past a Fresno State defender during the USC Tournament in Los Angeles, Calif. on Sunday. Utah swept the Bulldogs 3-0 and won two of three matches over the weekend.