Utah Volleyball Dominates USC
U of U Volleyball team against Colorado on March 21, 2021 at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on campus. (Photo by Tom Denton | The Daily Utah Chronicle)
October 9, 2021
The University of Utah women’s volleyball team swept USC Friday night in a three-set sweep. The night was also made historic as Dani Drews became the Utah volleyball all-time leader of kills. That night she racked up a total of 17 kills.
Utah started off the match hot. They were hitting an .459 percentage in the opening set. The defense was also playing solid as they had a .314 hitting percentage. With these percentages, the Utes were up 16-12 until USC managed to put the pressure on and bring the score to a one-point difference.
At this point in the set, the teams went back and forth. Kennedi Evans and Drews both had back-to-back kills to get the Utes to a three-point lead. Madelyn Robinson closed the set out with a kill.
The second set was thrilling. The beginning of the set consisted of going back and forth in the score. Utah was up 19-16 until the Trojans fought back to 19-18 before the Utes started to take control again. Evans was set up for a kill to close the set out for the Utes with a score of 25-23.
The Trojans continued to fight back to try to get a set off of the Utes. However the Utes continued their momentum as they were up 19-15. USC came back to win the next three points until a timeout was called by Utah. The Utes managed to come back to gain a better leave. The Trojans came back and won five points to take the lead 23-21.
Drews stopped the Trojans momentum with a kill to put the Utes down by one. Zoe Weatherington had a massive block to tie the game back up to 23-23. Drews finished the set with a block and then had another kill to help the Utes overcome the Trojans.
At the end of the night, Drews had 17 kills and 13 digs, Robinson had 12 kills and 13 digs to end the night. Stef Jankiewicz had 37 assists and nine digs while Vanessa Ramirez had 13 digs at the end of the night. Evans tallied up a total of six kills as well as six blocks. Weatherington had seven kills.
The Utes will have another match on Sunday, Oct. 10 at 1 p.m. MDT against No. 16 UCLA in Los Angeles. Fans can watch the match through live streaming.
