At one point, the U volleyball team might have looked at tonight’s match against UVSC as a nice way to break up the conference schedule. But now, there is no chance the Utes will take their 7 p.m. road match with the Wolverines lightly.
With the Utes carrying a three-match losing streak into Orem, they can’t just use cruise control against the Wolverines. They will have to use the match against their southern rival as a launching pad.
Meanwhile, UVSC will be looking for its first-ever win over the Utes. The Wolverines will also be simultaneously looking to extend a four-match winning streak and improve upon their 16-6 record. To pull off the feat, the Wolverines will have to triple something they’ve managed to do only once before — win a game against Utah.
For UVSC to do that, it’ll have to see the same kind of production it has seen over the past week from Allyce Wilson and Meagan Bluth. The sophomore tandem were named Independent Defensive and Offensive Players of the Week last week for their strong performance on the court.
Wilson collected 62 digs in seven games over the weekend for an 8.85 per-game average. Bluth hit .552 and tallied 25 kills over the same period. But even though the Utes come in with a deceptive 7-11 record, the Wolverines will need more than one player to step up on offense if they want to get past the defensive wall known as Utah junior Lori Baird.
With Utah’s star middle-blocker Emillie Toone red-shirting the season with an ACL injury, Baird has stepped up into the spot and hardly missed a beat.
She is second in the MWC in blocks per game with 1.51 and she has been solid on the attack with 2.75 kills per game and a .275 hitting average.
On top of looking for a win to jump-start the second part of their season, the Utes will also look to familiarize themselves with a few minor adjustments head coach Beth Launiere has implemented.
To help take the pressure off the Utes’ outside hitters, Launiere has gone from a three-person receiving coverage to a two-person setup. With libero Connie Dangerfield and all-around talent Kate Robison taking the bulk of the opponents’ serves, Kat Haynie gets freed up from her passing responsibilities and can focus more on securing points for the Utes with well-placed kills. It also allows Dangerfield and Robison to utilize the familiarity they’ve gained from the four years they’ve played together at Utah, and the few years they spent together prior to college.
“She is amazing,” Dangerfield said of Robison. “She is such a constant on the court.”
Together the two accounted for just one of the Utes’ five receiving errors against Colorado State on Saturday, despite receiving the large bulk of the passing chances.
With the subtle changes to the Utah lineup, Launiere hopes the offensive numbers of her team will start to improve from their paltry .165 hitting percentage, which is second lowest in the conference.
“I think we’re playing hard, we just need to find a way to get a little bit better,” Launiere said. “Efficient, for sure. We just make too many errors, too many hitting errors.”