But after celebrating seniors Morgan Odale and Erin Redd-Brandon prior to the final home match of their careers, the Utes came out unfocused and dropped the first set 25-23. They recalibrated, though, and took the next three sets to win the match (23-25, 25-18, 25-17, 26-24).
“We were a little tight early on in the match,” said Utah head coach Beth Launiere. “I think everybody knew how important of a match it was and were probably distracted by Senior Night. There’s no way around that. I thought we really dialed it in [in the last three sets]. The team worked hard all night. It didn’t come easy. They just grinded it out.”
In the opening stages of the contest, the Utes struggled to organize their offense and posted just 13 kills compared to Oregon State’s 17 in the first set. Additionally, the Beavers compiled 35 digs in the first frame compared to 27 for Utah.
To adjust, Launiere replaced freshman libero Tess Sutton with junior Lea Adolph for the rest of the match and the Utes’ fortunes began to change. Adolph finished the day with 10 digs.
“Our ball control was a little discombobulated early on, and I thought [Adolph] came in and settled things down with our passing and overall ball control,” Launiere said. “Once we started getting our passing and everything in order, we were able to get the ball to Erin and Bailey [Bateman] in the middle. They started getting kills, that opens everything up and that’s how it works.”
While Redd-Brandon and Bateman had success getting a combined 17 kills from the middle of the floor, they were not the only ones to provide a punch for Utah offensively. Chelsey Schofield led the way with 13 kills for the match and Shelby Dalton contributed 10.
“I felt like our focus and our discipline increased because we wanted to get things done,” Odale said of the difference between the first set and the rest of the afternoon. “We talked about it in the locker room, what needed to happen. It was just discipline, executing and getting the ball where it needed to go.”
Though the Utes still have two contests remaining in the regular season, Sunday provided a positive ending to Odale and Redd-Brandon’s home careers.
“It was definitely an emotional experience,” Redd-Brandon said of the pre-match ceremony that honored her and her teammate. “You have to prepare for it mentally because it’s been such an amazing journey. So to see it come to a close is kind of emotional. It was really cool to just see the respect that we have gained from our fans and our teammates. It’s just really overwhelming.”
Up next for the Utes is an important contest Wednesday evening against Colorado in Boulder. The teams enter the showdown tied in the conference standings and on the bubble of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.
“[The Buffaloes] are tough at home, and so it’s gonna take a lot of preparation on our part, and every win gets us a step closer to our goal at the end,” Redd-Brandon said.
That match is set to begin at 6 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.