The Utah women’s volleyball team finished the first half of its conference schedule with wins over San Diego State University and archrival BYU.
In the match against BYU on Friday, senior middle blocker Lori Baird set a new school record with a career-high 16 blocks.
“The block defined the match for us,” said head coach Beth Launiere. “That’s how we’ve been winning the last seven matches.”
Utah has been working all season to develop its blocking, an area in which the Utes started out slow.
Their hard work has paid off as the team is currently No. 3 in the nation and second in the Mountain West Conference with 2.96 blocks per set.
Against BYU, Utah shut down a team-high 20 balls, with one solo block and 37 block assists.
“I honestly don’t think I have ever seen that many blocks in a match before,” Launiere said.
In addition to the 16 blocks put up by Baird, teammate Chelsey Sandberg added another 11.
“We could definitely feel (BYU’s) energy dropping as the match went on,” Baird said. “It’s tough when you have a big block everywhere you go.”
Utah’s offense was also led by Baird who had 11 kills and a .304 hitting percentage. Chelsey Sandberg, Kathryn Haynie and Emillie Toone all had six kills in the 25-23, 25-21 and 25-17 sweep.
After losing the first set to SDSU Oct. 11, the Utes came back with a vengeance to beat the Aztecs 21-25, 25-14, 25-18 and 25-15.
Utah’s defense was non-existent in the first set as the block was non-existent, which allowed SDSU to drive down 13 kills and earn a .429 hitting percentage.
“They were really fired up and we just weren’t as ready as we should’ve been,” Toone said.
Throughout the rest of the match, it looked as though the first-set loss had awakened a sleeping giant.
Utah came back from the first set no-show with 15 blocks on the match.
“We were able to hold (SDSU) below a .100 hitting percentage, which is really awesome,” Launiere said.
Utah’s defense was spearheaded by Toone who put up nine blocks. Keisha Fisher dug up 11 balls to lead the Utes from the back row.
As the block came alive, so did the rest of Utah’s game as serving, passing and hitting all improved steadily after the first set.
Utah was led on offense by Haynie with 14 kills and Toone with 11.
“I liked the adjustments we made in between the first and second sets,” Launiere said. “We were able to successfully carry out some offensive adjustments.”
After starting out its conference schedule with back-to-back losses to Colorado State and Wyoming, Utah has been working hard to get back to the top.
The two wins give Utah a 6-2 MWC record and move it into sole possession of second place in the standings.
“We’ve been working really hard, but we know we can’t relax at all,” Baird said. “We’ve got to be ready for the rest of the season.”
With five of its first eight conference matches on the road, Utah is looking forward to the home games ahead.
“I like the schedule we have coming up and where we are sitting,” Launiere said.
Despite sitting on a seven-game win streak, the Utes know there is still a lot of volleyball left to play.
“We have to improve every day,” Toone said. “In the second half of the season, everyone is going to come back fired up and we have to be prepared.”
Tyler CobbThe Utes volleyball team celebrates a point during the match against BYU on Friday. The sweep of BYU extended the teams win streak to 7 games.