The Utah women’s volleyball game continued its winning streak beating the TCU Horned Frogs in three sets last night.
Utah’s offense was strong as usual, but it was the defense that came alive and gave the Utes the edge they needed to beat TCU 25-22, 25-23, and 25-19.
“I thought we played really well,” head coach Beth Launiere said. “It was a total and complete team effort.”
Despite being unable to contain setter Nirelle Hampton, who had eight kills and .636 hitting percentage, Utah forced 26 TCU errors and held the rest of the team to a .123.
“I thought we played well against her,” Launiere said. “It didn’t feel like she got eight balls down on us.”
The Utah team stuff blocked 15 of the Horned Frogs’ hitting attempts and dug up another 50 balls.
Keisha Fisher once again led the Utes back row defense with 17 digs in the match, while it was Emillie Toone and Chelsey Sandberg creating the wall on the frontline with five and six blocks respectively.
“We played great defense, blocking four balls per game is great,” Launiere said. “We went to the 6-2 to get a bigger block and that’s what happening, the right side blockers are getting it done.”
The Utah offense continued to be a force to be reckoned with as it smashed down 41 kills and earned a .255 hitting percentage.
Senior Lori Baird led the team again with 14 kills and added four blocks on defense, while Toone chipped in eight kills of her own and led the Utes with a.571 hitting percentage.
“Lori and Emillie were unstoppable in the middle,” Launiere said. “That says a lot about our outsides and Keisha passing, being able to get so many hits to the middle.”
With TCU behind them, the Utes only have one game left this week as they will take on New Mexico Saturday at 1 p.m.
New Mexico is sitting 3-1 in the MWC after back-to-back sweeps of San Diego State and UNLV last week and defeating No. 21 BYU in three last night.
“New Mexico is tough, we definitely have our work cut out for us.” Launiere said.
The powerful Utah offense that has been seen all season will need to be present in order to take down the Lobos, who lead the conference in holding opponents to low hitting percentages and is second in digs.
“In the 6-2 we always have three hitters coming at them,” Launiere said. “As long as we pass the ball well we should be okay.”
Utah’s defense, however, isn’t going to get any breaks against New Mexico who is second in the conference with a .242 hitting percentage.
A win against New Mexico would give the Utes a 3-2 conference record and move Utah into the top half of the MWC standings.
“We are all vying for a place in the top half of the conference,” Launiere said. “Two wins on the road would be huge for us.”
Utah will take on more MWC foes next week as UNLV and San Diego State come to Crimson Court for matches Thursday and Saturday.
Lucas IsleyBeth Launiere and the Utes get first conference sweet of the season