On July 21, head coach Beth Launiere had one goal in mind.
“Our goal is to make the NCAA tournament. We know that if we take care of business in the Pac-12, we will make the NCAA tournament,” she said.
With six seniors on the team, everybody in the program was confident the Utes were headed back to the NCAA tournament.
Fast-forward four months, and there is still a debate over whether Utah took care of enough business.
The Utes had it rolling during their pre-Pac-12 season, starting out 10-0 and beating on a lot of lower opponents. The only ranked, out-of-conference match Utah played was against a No. 12 BYU team, and the Cougars humbled the Utes, sweeping them in dominant fashion.
Following the BYU match, Utah opened Pac-12 play and proceeded to lose three straight games.
After 10 in-conference matches, the Utes were just 2-10, which included being swept by a winless Washington State club. The team’s chances of making the tournament seemed all but gone.
But the team remained confident.
After their 10th loss of the season, senior Chelsey Schofield-Olsen said she thought the team needed to win eight out of 10 matches to make the tournament.
That looked to be a tough task, as Utah’s final 10 matches included eight teams ranked in the Top-25 and the top two teams in the country in Stanford and Washington.
After the first two matches of the final 10, the Utes were 0-2, having lost to Arizona State and Arizona.
As hard as it was to believe, Launiere said the team was in good spirits.
Maybe it was because the Utes were finally headed home after two straight weeks spent on the road, or maybe it was because Utah could go 6-2 in its last eight matches and match the 2013 Sun Devils record that was good enough for the final Pac-12 tournament spot. Whatever it was, hope still resided in the Utes.
Home was just what the doctor ordered, as Utah won four straight matches in the Huntsman Center. Three of the wins came against top 20 teams, including one of the program’s best victories ever — a win over No. 2 Washington.
The groundwork to get back to the tournament had been laid, but Utah still had work to do.
Winning a game on the road was still something Utah hadn’t done. This last weekend the Utes lost at No. 1 Stanford in three sets, but finally got their first road win in their last road match against California.
“I think we’re very determined right now. It wasn’t like a crazy celebration, it was just a good feeling of accomplishment,” Launiere said. “Let’s get home, and let’s get ready for Oregon.”
Utah has two matches left in its roller-coaster season — No. 13 Oregon on Tuesday and No. 18 Colorado on Friday. Launiere and her players feel like they might be able to get a bid even if they lose both of their final matches, but they don’t want to think about that scenario as they look to secure their spot in the tournament.
“We gotta get one or two wins to be safe,” Launiere said. “The more we win in these next two matches, the more it takes us out of the committee’s hands.”
Senior Shelby Dalton said the team surpassing USC this past weekend for ninth in the Pac-12 might be the key.
Both Dalton and Schofield-Olsen know the two remaining matches will be tough, but they’re both confident the team will be able to pick up a win against one of the teams.
“If this does end up being our last two games, I just want to enjoy it,” Dalton said.
During the match against Colorado, the Utes will honor their six seniors. With Dalton and Schofield-Olsen, Utah will also honor Bailey Bateman, Kalee Kirby, Makenzie Moeai’i and Lea Adolph. Adolph’s parents made the trip for her last two games all the way from Waltrop, Germany.
 
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