The Utah volleyball team went 1-1 this past weekend on their road trip to Kansas. The Utes defeated Kansas State 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 26-24, 25-19) and lost to No. 9 Kansas 0-3 (16-25, 21-25, 22-25).
Utah has a record of 16-4 and a Big 12 record of 6-3, placing third for the program’s first year in the conference. The Utes have nine conference games remaining for the season, with five of them at home.
Next up, Utah haunts the Jon M. Huntsman Center on Halloween when they host Arizona Thursday night at 7 p.m. MT
Kansas State
No. 21 Utah beat Kansas State 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 26-24, 25-19) on Thursday, Oct. 24, at the Morgan Family Arena in Manhattan, Kansas.
The Utes would lose the first set to K-State with a .097 hitting percentage and only placing five kills. The Utes trailed in the first by as many as 10, but closed the gap to gain momentum entering the second set.
Utah opened an 8-4 lead over K-State with a kill by Emrie Satuala. The Utes would win the race to 15 on back-to-back attack errors on K-State. Ashley West gave the Utes their first set point on a kill to make it 24-20, before Satuala gave Utah their win to even the series at 1.
During the second set, Utah would get an early 4-3 lead on a service error by K-State, but then have to fight the remainder of the set. Utah lost the race to 15, trailing 15-11, but would tie K-State at 23-23 on a kill by Kamryn Gibadlo and eventually get back-to-back kills from Satuala and Gibadlo to give the Utes the 26-24 set win.
Utah opened the fourth set with a service ace by Claranne Fechter to make it 5-3 and won the race to 15 this time on a kill by Gibadlo to make it 15-13. Eventually, the Utes would open up their lead and first set point opportunity from a kill by Lauren Jardine to make it 24-18.
The Utes had an impressive .484 hitting percentage in the fourth set and took the set 25-19 for a 3-1 series win over Kansas State.
Leading the Utes was both Satuala (12-2-21, .476) and Gibadlo (12–1-29, .379) with 12 kills apiece. Isabelle Marco led Utah with 28 assists to go along with tying the team lead in aces with Fechter at three.
No. 9 Kansas
Utah lost to No. 9 Kansas 0-3 (16-25, 21-25, 22-25) Saturday afternoon at the Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena in Lawrence, Kansas.
This would be the fifth top-25 matchup for Utah since conference play in the Big 12 began. This also would be the second time this season Utah has lost to a top-10 team, with No. 8 Purdue being the first.
The Utes fell behind 5-10 and lost the race to 15. Utah got kills from Jardine and Gibadlo to cut the Jayhawks lead 11-16, but Kansas would go on a five-point run to open their lead 11-20. Kamry Bailey scored an ace to make it 16-24, but Kansas took the first set 16-25.
The Utes battled in the second set, keeping the game close early. Eventually, Utah got three consecutive kills by Gibadlo to cut the Kansas lead to one at 12-13. Ultimately, the Utes couldn’t get closer than three the rest of the set, losing 21-25.
Utah started the third set trailing the Jayhawks, but a kill by Jardine helped cut the lead 8-9. Kansas would go on a six-point run to open the lead to 11-20. The Utes responded with a four-point run of their own, including kills from Bailey and Gibadlo, to make the score 15-20. Bailey cut the Jayhawk lead to two with an ace to make it 22-24. Kansas would then follow the play with a kill to give Kansas the 3-0 series sweep.
Leading the Utes with nine kills each were Jardine and Gibadlo. Both Jardine (9-1-24, .333) and Bailey (6-1-15, .333) led the Utes in hitting %. Isabelle led the Utes with 16 assists, and Fechter had 15 digs.
