The Utah volleyball team defeated No. 17 TCU in straight sets 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-22) Thursday night at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
The Utes are now 14-2 on the season and 4-1 overall in the Big 12. Head coach Beth Launiere said this is a game that they expected to be in.
“This is the kind of win we should get when we’re at home. I think we have a pretty good team,” Launiere said. “We’ve been working hard putting together a good season. We were looking forward to getting TCU here; we thought we had a shot if we played well, and we did.”
The win moves Utah into third in the Big 12, trailing only Arizona State and Kansas. Launiere said there is still work to be done.
“We’re just doing work right now; there’s a lot of season left,” Launiere said. “We just have to keep our heads down and just keep doing work. The horizons are not there yet.”
The Utes will continue their Big 12 conference play with five games remaining in the month of October, including road games at BYU, Kansas State and Kansas.
Game Recap
Leading the Utes with 13 kills was Kamryn Gibadlo, who also said this win confirmed what the team already knew.
“This win pool solidifies the fact that we know we are such a good team,” Gibadlo said. “We know we are a top 25 team, and we know we can compete with the big dogs of the Big 12.”
The first set saw the Utes jump to an early 7-2 lead before TCU took a timeout. Utah would win the race to 15 on a kill by Emrie Satuala to make it 15-10. TCU would battle back to cut the Utah lead to 24-22. Out of a Utah timeout, Gibadlo would get the kill to take the first set 25-22.
During the second set, each team would battle back and forth for each point. Both teams would go on four-point runs, with Utah winning the race to 15 on a block assist by Gibadlo and Satuala to make it 15-12.
TCU would pull within one at 23-22, but Allie Olsen would get a kill to set the match point. The Utes would spare any drama and put the second set away immediately on a TCU error.
The third set saw a push from the Horned Frogs, forcing 15 ties with seven lead changes. The Utes would win the race to 15 on an ace by Gibadlo to make it 15-14. TCU would take a late lead at 22-21, but after a Utah timeout, the Utes would get the final four points on kills from Rianne Vos, a block assist by Vos and Satuala, and a final kill from Satuala to finish the 3-0 match sweep.
Vos, who posted 10 kills with a .444 hit percentage, was a key player, according to Launiere.
“A player that made a big difference for us was Rianne. We were kind of struggling; they did a really nice job on our middles — probably the best job anyone’s done on our middles,” Launiere said. “I thought Rianne really opened things up for us and made some real key kills, and that was big time for us.”
Also leading the Utes with kills were Lauren Jardine with eight and Kamry Bailey with seven. Bailey was also tied for the team lead in digs with 10 along with Claranne Fechter. Isabelle Marco led Utah with 19 assists and Grace Hammond with 17 assists.
The No. 18 Baylor Bears visit Utah on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 1 p.m. MT at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
