No. 17 Utah Volleyball to Take on Arizona Teams at Home
University of Utah Setter Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres (9) cheers with her teammates during introducion in an NCAA Volleyball match vs. The Washington Huskies at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019. (Photo by Abu Asib | The Daily Utah Chronicle)
November 1, 2019
The No. 17 University of Utah volleyball team is back home in the Huntsman Center to take on Arizona State and the University of Arizona. The first match against the Sun Devils will start off at 7 p.m. on Friday. The following Sunday at 12 p.m. the Utes will take on the Wildcats. Utah is heading into the match with a solid record of 14-7, 6-4 in the Pac-12. Right now, Utah is ranked sixth in the Pac-12 while Arizona State sits at eighth and Arizona at tenth.
Last weekend, the Utes were home to take on No. 12 Washington and No. 22 Washington State. Before last week’s contests, Washington was previously 9 and Washington State was 25. The Utes were victorious in the upset against the Huskies in four sets, but weren’t able to pull out a win after the five-set battle with the Cougars. Dani Drews got her season high of 31 kills in that same game and Saige Ka’aha’aina-Torres had 67 assists, which is the second most in program history.
The Utes will start off against the Sun Devils for their Frozen Adventure night on Friday. Earlier in the season — when the team was in Tempe — they pulled off a sweep, winning 3-0. The Utes have won the last six matches against the Sun Devils, dating back to 2016. The Utes are 14-5 overall against the team. Arizona State is currently 5-5 in Pac-12 play. They lost to Washington and UCLA, two teams that the Utes were able to beat, but they beat Washington State, while Utah lost to them.
After the Utes takes on Arizona State, they will play Arizona on Sunday. The last time the team met in Tucson, they went four sets, where Utah was able to pull off the win. Utah is on a two-game win streak against the Wildcats, and is 4-2 since 2016. Arizona is currently 2-8 in Pac-12, after they have beat Oregon and Colorado. The Utes were not able to beat Oregon earlier in the season, but did take the win from Colorado. The Wildcats will be in Boulder on Friday to take on the Buffs again before coming to Salt Lake.
Other good matches to watch this week in Pac-12 are UCLA vs Washington State. Both teams were upset by higher ranked teams last weekend. Washington will play USC, and this is another game to watch as USC beat Cal and went five sets with Stanford. Both games for the Utes this weekend will be played in the Jon M. Huntsman Center and will be broadcasted on the Pac-12 Networks.
