No. 9 Utah Volleyball Grabs Road Split at No. 17 UCLA
March 14, 2021
The University of Utah volleyball team split two meetings against No. 17 UCLA this weekend, moving their record to 11-3. Each game was decided by a score of 3-1, with each team winning one matchup. The Utes lost on Friday before a nice bounce-back performance Sunday afternoon.
Friday afternoon was not a great outing for Utah. After playing very evenly with the Bruins through the first two sets, leading to a 1-1 tie, they could not grab the next two. Each set was close, with Utah even taking a 17-9 lead in the fourth set. They couldn’t hold on, however, which eventually led to UCLA grabbing a victory over the Utes and setting up a very important match on Sunday. As a top-10 ranked team, Utah certainly couldn’t afford to drop two in a row.Â
On Sunday afternoon, Utah lost the first set of the match after getting into a hole early. The Bruins came out firing and looked like a team ready to capitalize on the momentum of just a few days earlier. An attempted comeback fell short, and the Utes went down 1-0 again, dropping the first set 21-25. From there, though, it was some smooth sailing for Utah. They won the next three sets by scores of 25-18, 25-17 and a dominant 25-10.
It felt like they had finally figured out UCLA after the two teams had been playing each other very close for the whole weekend. Kennedi Evans had a whopping 10 blocks, which is the most by a Ute so far this season, and the second time Evans has hit double-digits in her career. Dani Drews, Kenzie Koerber and Madelyn Robinson all had double-digit kills to fuel the attack. This was an especially nice victory for Utah after dropping the game Friday night, finishing the weekend with a split against a top-20 opponent.
Up next, the Utes will play at Colorado on Friday, March 19. The Buffaloes will then visit Salt Lake City just two days later on Sunday, March 21. The top-10 Utes are hurtling towards the end of the season, and hopefully, they can build up some momentum for the homestretch. The Pac-12 is always tough, but Utah is in a prime position to finish with one of the best records in the conference with just six matches to go. Both games against Colorado will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network.