The Utah women’s volleyball team can breathe a sigh of relief as it finished its last road trip of the season with a 3-1 win over the UNLV Rebels.
After starting out Mountain West Conference play 0-2 with losses on the road to Colorado State and Wyoming, the Utes have gone on an 11-game MWC win streak, six of which have been on the road.
“We marked this weekend on the calendars a few weeks ago, knowing it was the last big road trip,” said head coach Beth Launiere. “We were ready for it, but it took everything we had to get these two wins.”
The wins placed the Utes at No. 1 in the MWC with an 11-2 record after Colorado State lost to TCU on Saturday, falling to a 10-2 record.
After dropping a tight first set 27-25, the Utes battled back to win the next three sets 25-17, 25-22 and 25-19. This is the second time this season Utah has won a match after losing the first set.
“We were down in a lot of the sets and had to battle back,” Launiere said. “Statistically, we were winning the whole night8212;we knew the only way we would lose was mentally and we were tough, but it was an uphill battle.”
Once again, Utah’s focus on making its all-around game better paid off as the Utes were strong on offense and defense.
Offensively, Utah pounded down 62 kills, averaging 15.5 a set, two more than its season average. The Utes also had three hitters in double digits.
Lori Baird led the attack with 17 kills, while fellow middle blocker Emillie Toone added 12 and outside hitter Kathryn Haynie had 10.
“We knew our middles would have to get kills to win because UNLV is so defensive,” Launiere said. “Every time we needed a point, the middles came through and got kills at critical times.”
Baird had only one hitting error on the match, as she hit a .516 average and led the team to a .274 hitting percentage.
In addition to contributing 10 kills, Haynie was big on defense, digging 10 balls and earning her 18th career double-double. Keisha Fisher led the back row defense with 18 digs and setter Stephanie Shardlow got 13 of her own.
On the front row, the Utes blocked 15 balls, forcing 26 errors as they held UNLV to a .162 hitting percentage.
Baird also led the defense with eight blocks, while Toone and Karolina Bartkowiak both had seven.
“It was a great match for us,” Launiere said. “We played tough, but it was a hard-fought battle. We had to earn every point we got.”
With San Diego State and UNLV out of the way, Utah has just three MWC matches left, all of which are at home.
“It’s great to be at home, but we know that we don’t win just because we’re at home,” Launiere said. “We have to prepare and work just as hard to get the wins at home.”
Despite wanting to exact revenge on Colorado State and Wyoming, Utah’s focus is the match with rival BYU coming up Friday.
“Our players are very motivated and very much looking forward to the next three matches, but we’re focusing on BYU for now,” Launiere said.
Utah will look to tie up the Deseret Duel with a win over BYU on Friday.