The Utah women’s volleyball team played USC this weekend at the Jon M. Huntsman Center and defeated them in four sets to improve their record to 16-7 for this year.

The Utes started off the first set with a bunch of momentum as they gained a lead of 12-4 before the Trojans started to fight back a little bit and cut the advantage down to 18-12. Dani Drews finished off the first set for the Utes with her seventh kill of the game. 

The second set started off in a bit of a surprising manner as USC came out on fire with a 6-3 lead and left the Utes to make adjustments. The Utes started to come back but the Trojans still had a commanding 13-6 lead. With one final push the Utes tried to come back but ultimately lost the second set 25-20. 

In the third set, the Utes started off with a 15-9 lead before the Trojans won four of the next five points. The Utes managed to maintain their lead to put themselves in a great winning position up 22-18. Drews and Amelia Van Der Werff worked together throughout the set in order to set Utah up for the victory but the Trojans refused to let up. After the set was tied 27-27, Madelyn Robinson had a kill to give the Utes another set point. This time they put the set away and won it 29-27. 

The Utes had a tight fourth set despite having the lead. In the middle of the set, the Utes led 17-16 in the set but the Trojans were gaining momentum. Zoe Weatherington had a big kill to help the Utes gain another lead. From a score of 23-22, the Utes managed to win the set 25-23. 

At the end of the night, Drews had 22 kills and 14 digs. Weatherington had 13 kills and Robinson had 12 kills. Additionally, Stef Jankiewicz had a total of 46 assists while Vanessa Ramirez had 18 digs. 

Following the victory, the Utes will now travel to Arizona to play their final matches on the road. Utah will play Arizona on Friday, Nov. 12 at 3 p.m. MST and Arizona State on Sunday, Nov. 14 at 1 p.m. MST. Both of these matches will be available to watch via live stream.

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@DushEmily