The University of Utah Utes Volleyball team started off the 2020-2021 season over the weekend with a two-game series at home hosting the University of Arizona Wildcats. 

The official 22-match Pac-12 schedule for the season was released on Jan. 19. A day later, Utah was announced as the preseason favorite by a conference head coach’s vote. The designation is a first for Utah in the Pac-12 era, with the Utes receiving nine first-place votes. Seniors Dani Drews and Kenzi Koerber also received preseason all Pac-12 teams honors.

“It’s been a long 14 months. I think that first Friday it was weird for all of us to be finally playing someone else other than our own teammates,” Kenzie Koerber said.

Drews, Koerber and their fellow Utes proved themselves worthy of their preseason honors, sweeping the Wildcats in both weekend matches, 3 sets to 0. 

In Friday’s opener, the Utes came to play after more than a year off the court. The Wildcats’ only chance to take a set came in the first, with the overall score at 23-25 Utah. Although shaky in the pass play across all three sets, Utah maintained composure and shut down the Arizona rally. For Utah, the cobwebs had been shaken by the end of the first set with sets two and three scoring at 17-25 and 15-25 respectively.

On the night, senior outside hitter Dani Drews had 15 kills, 12 digs and added an ace. Fellow first-teamer Koerber had eight kills. True freshman defense specialist and libero Vanessa Ramirez led the team with 13 digs in her first match for Utah.

Utah started the Sunday match the way they left off Friday’s performance. The first two points scored in the first set came from Koerber’s and Drews’ kills. In the set, Utah held an 11 point lead with three unanswered points at the end to cap the set at 13-25 Utah.

The second set started with back-to-back aces from Madelyn Robinson who had four aces in the day along with nine kills and two blocks. The Utes began to separate from Arizona after the 5-8 point in which Utah ended the longest back and forth volley from Arizona with the win. Utah won the set 13-25.

The final set of the matchup saw an admirable but short performance from the Wildcats, ending 16-25 in favor of Utah to cap off a perfect sweep opening weekend. Drews led the team with 13 kills while Koerber led in digs with 10.

“I think there are a lot of little things that we can get better at quickly, for instance, Friday our passing was all over the place,” Koerber said. “I think just continuing to build chemistry with new players on the court even with how talented we are, we will just continue to get better.”

The Utes head to Berkely, CA this coming weekend to face the University of California Golden Bears who dropped their first two matches to UCLA.

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