It’s the end of the regular season, and the Utah volleyball team is celebrating in the Burbidge Athletics Academic Center. The NCAA tournament selection show revealed that the Utes are heading to Lincoln, Neb. to face Kansas State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
But go back to the first day of November and the Utes’ postseason hopes looked grim. Arizona had just swept Utah, and the Utes’ Pac-12 record stood at a measly 2-10.
“We met after the Arizona match, and we said, ‘We got one last shot at this,’ ” said head coach Beth Launiere. “I told people, ‘I’m not sure it’s probable, but anything is possible.’ ”
Since that match against the Wildcats, the Utes have won seven of eight to finish the season with a 9-11 in-conference record with the only loss coming on the road against No. 1 Stanford.
Launiere credits the players for the turnaround of Utah’s season.
“They made the decision to give it everything they had — practices started picking up, our confidence started gaining as we started off this streak by beating USC and UCLA,” Launiere said. “We just kept it rolling, then I thought our senior experience picked up, our freshmen were getting better, we were at home a lot and everything kind of came together for us.”
Senior Shelby Dalton said she can’t pinpoint the exact thing that propelled the Utes to their amazing month of play, but she did explain her mindset during the team’s slump.
“I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I’m gonna have fun, and I’m gonna work my hardest the whole time and see where it goes,” Dalton said.
After beating No. 18 Colorado on Friday, Launiere said her team “might be” the hottest team in the country. Utah boasts almost the same November record as the No. 1 Cardinal at 8-1.
Stanford will be the overall number one seed in the tournament, as it has only lost one game all season. The single loss came on the road against Washington, who is one of the other number one seeds in the tournament, alongside Texas and Wisconsin.
The four number one seeds are a combined 109-7 for the season. Utah claims responsibility for one of those seven defeats when it upset No. 2 Washington on Nov. 15 in five sets.
The Utes didn’t get a top team in the first round; instead they got Kansas State. The Wildcats are 14 spots ahead of the Utes in RPI rankings, but in last week’s coaches poll, Utah sat at No. 23 while Kansas State was nowhere to be found. The Wildcats were the opposite of Utah, finishing the season with a 2-5 stretch.
Throughout the season, Launiere and a few of her players have mentioned that they enjoy playing teams similar to themselves. For example, Washington and Arizona State have similar gameplans to Utah, and the Utes upset each team once this season.
Launiere said Kansas State plays a similar style as Utah, giving the Utes the confidence they will need to make it to the second round.
After a long roller coaster of a season, Launiere said she enjoyed the process of Selection Sunday.
“For a coach, this is a really fun day and for the players as well,” Launiere said. “I love this day, if you’re in.”
The Utes are in, which didn’t seem realistic just a month ago, but they don’t want to be complacent with just getting in. Utah is set to face off against Kansas State on Dec. 5 at 3:30 p.m. MT.
 
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