Playing in five sets is becoming Utah’s style. In Tuesday’s Pac-12 opener against Colorado at the Huntsman Center, the Utes gave themselves as much of a challenge as their opponent did.
After five sets, Utah finally prevailed (25-19, 21-25, 25-18, 24-26, 15-12). Although the Buffaloes’ offense was different from what the Utes have faced all season, the real trouble came as Utah started shooting itself in the foot.
“I think we need to play more consistently,” said Utes’ head coach Beth Launiere. “Yeah, you take wins when you can and you feel good about them, but I’m not feeling great about our consistency. We aren’t going to get wins if we keep doing that.”
Up two sets to one in the fourth and holding a 16-11 edge, Utah (12-1, 1-0) had a chance to put Colorado (8-2, 0-1) away, but the Buffaloes capitalized on four Ute service errors, along with other mistakes, to claw their way back and eventually take the set, forcing a fifth.
While Utah struggled in its service game in the fourth, it was a strength early as the Utes built an advantage. On the night, Utah finished with a season-high seven aces. Three came from sophomore setter Kendall Cygan, who also saved the Utes multiple times with 15 digs to keep her team from falling behind earlier in the match.
“We played really nice defense,” Launiere said. “We knew a lot of balls were going to going to [Cygan’s] way. She came in 100 percent go for everything. That’s the best defensive match I have ever seen her play.”
The defensive effort was led by junior middle blocker Bailey Bateman, who had a match-high seven blocks, including three in the fifth set. Bateman also posted 11 kills on a .375 hitting percentage.
“We started executing our jobs,” Bateman said. “We got digs, dialed in to get our blocks set up. It made the game so much easier because it led to doing more than the other team.”
In total, Utah finished with 25 blocks compared to Colorado’s 13, which was needed because of the miscues on offense. In all, the Utes committed 23 attack errors and 13 service errors, giving the Buffaloes ample opportunity to steal the victory. Colorado junior outside hitter Taylor Simpson had match-high 22 kills to go along with 15 digs. Utah was able to keep sophomore hitter Alexis Austin to a .071 hitting percentage, but she still managed to get 11 kills.
Though Launiere had much to say about the strong play of her team’s defense, she had more to say about how the Utes’ attack needs to have greater consistency. Bateman, along with fellow juniors Makenzie Moea’i and Shelby Dalton, all had 11 kills and senior Morgan Odale posted 10 of her own while Erin Redd-Brandon and Chelsey Schofield both put up eight each.
As has been a case so far this season, it was unclear Tuesday who was going to step up. While that can be a positive at times, Launiere said it’s due to her players looking to someone else to make a play.
“Dalton was hot, then [Colorado] started to shut her down,” Launiere said. “Then Redd-Brandon got hot for a while, then we started to get the ball to Bateman. That was the story of this game, just different people at different times, but we need them to quit depending on someone else at points in the game.”
Up next for the Utes is a date with USC this Sunday at home.