Utah Volleyball Wins Home Opener
U of U Volleyball team against Colorado on Mar 21, 2021 at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on campus. (Photo by Tom Denton | The Daily Utah Chronicle)
August 29, 2021
The University of Utah volleyball team started their season off this weekend with an away and home game against Utah Valley University. After this successful opening weekend, the Utes have a 2-0 record.
It was nice to see normalcy in the Huntsman Center on a Saturday night where students, staff, and fans could come and watch the Utes compete for the first time in over a year.
The Utes started off strong with Zoe Weatherington, who helped set the momentum for the Utes as she earned three kills in the first set and played a critical role in putting the team in a 13-5 lead in the first set, before they needed to call a timeout once the set got tighter, as UVU came back to a three point differential.
The Utes finished the first set with a score of 25-15, where Dani Drews scored four kills. Stef Jankiewicz played a critical role where she was able to help on defense to allow her teammates to earn kills.
The second set was off to a stronger start where the Utes had a 9-2 lead and the offense was able to get a .600 hitting percentage which set them up for a 25-10 second set win.
The Utes continued their momentum into the third set where the team earned 15 kills and a .565 hitting percentage as Phoebe Grace helped the Utes get a 19-9 lead in the set. The Utes won the third and final set 25-12.
Drews earned 13 kills and had a hitting percentage of .440. Weatherington was right behind her with a hitting percentage of .400 and seven kills. Madelyn Robinson had seven kills, Kennedi Evans had six kills and Amelia Van Der Werff had four kills.
The Utes put on a solid show as Vanessa Ramirez had 11 digs throughout the night. Evans had 6.0 total blocks in the match, Weatherington had 5.0, and Jankiewicz had 30 assists and seven digs throughout the game.
The Utes got off to a strong start where they look to carry that momentum to the Utah Classic tournament where they will play a double header against Cal Poly at 10 a.m. and San Diego at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 3. They will play Hawaii Saturday, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m.
