This weekend, the Utah volleyball team will hit the road to take part in the Active Ankle Challenge in Louisville, Ky., and Kendall Cygan is preparing to see the best out of her teammates and of all her opponents.
“[We are] getting ourselves ready to be in a dogfight this tournament,” Cygan said.
This will be the third and final tournament that Utah will participate in this season and so far Utah has been 2-1 in their tournaments and is 5-2 overall.
The first match for the Utes is at 7:30 p.m. ET on Sept. 11 against Louisville. Louisville is currently 2-3 on the season, having dropped their last two matches against Minnesota and Wisconsin, and Utah can continue their road winning streak if they beat the Cardinals on their home court. The Utes defeated Gonzaga in Spokane this last weekend in an exciting game that went to five sets.
A player Utah needs to keep its eyes on is Erin Fairs. The transfer from USF earned the Active Ankle Challenge MVP award at the tournament last year with her former team and is averaging 4 kills per set.
Utah has a pair of matches on Saturday. The first one is at 12 p.m. ET and will face off against the Ohio Bobcats. The Bobcats have a 5-2 record, including an impressive 3-1 win against the No. 10 Kentucky Wildcats. They are averaging 2.4 blocks per set but only hit at a .178 attack percentage, compared to Utah’s .259 mark. Abby Gilleland, a senior setter, is the leader of the Bobcat’s offense, recording 264 of their 300 team assists so far this season.
The Utes’ last game is against Seton Hall at 5:30 p.m. ET. The Pirates are 4-2 and face a similar situation as the Utes. Seton Hall has welcomed seven new freshman this season. The Pirates are averaging 12.8 kills per set and are holding their opponents to only 11.6, but Utah has a strong attack that will look to reach their 13.8 kill per set average.
The Utes will be traveling roughly 1,500 miles to reach this tournament, a distance that is sure to be a factor in their play. While reaching these games will be quite a trip, Cygan isn’t afraid of what it takes to play while on the road.
“I think it’s just the same preparation we do,” Cygan said. “Making sure we are mentally prepared, especially for the different atmosphere we are going into and just making sure during practices we are physically prepared.”
Just getting back from Spokane this past weekend, the Utes face a quick-turnaround heading out to Kentucky, but this doesn’t mean they can’t use what little time that they do have to their benefit, and head coach Beth Launiere is taking advantage of every second. She has pushed the team in practices this week and is seeing it pay off.
“We actually had a great practice trying to clean up the defensive side of our game,” Launiere said. “We’re playing so much right now, we’re just trying to fix a few things here and there. I thought we’ve gotten a lot better this week.”
After the tournament this weekend the Utes will return to the Huntsman Center to play BYU for the Deseret First Duel Challenge on Sept. 17 and open Pac-12 play against Colorado on Sept. 23.
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