As the defending Mountain West Conference champions suffered through their third loss in conference play, the Utah volleyball team felt the growing pains that come with a lineup filled with sophomores and freshmen.
The Utes cruised through the MWC schedule last year losing only once. With two weekends left, the 2005 version of the team has three losses but has been on fire lately as those freshmen and sophomores become more like the seniors they're replacing on the court.
At the front of Utah's youth movement is former Murray Spartan Lori Baird.
The athletic, 6-foot-2 freshman was pounding the ball against the likes of Highland and Olympus last year. Now, Baird is impressing opponents like previously undefeated BYU — which Baird helped Utah beat last week.
"We're not even close to being the same team that we were five or six weeks ago," Utah coach Beth Launiere said. "We've done a lot of growing up since then."
Baird is one of three freshmen in Utah's starting lineup — former Viewmont star Airial Salvo and Colorado product Katie Krug are the others — and she has established herself as an indispensable part of the Utes' attack.
Baird won the MWC's Player of the Week Award a couple of weeks ago after a strong outing against San Diego State and TCU. So far, the surprisingly powerful hitter is leading the team's primary hitters with a .303 hitting percentage and ranks third in kills with 215.
Hitting the ball, however, is far from Baird's only strength.
Pairing with Emillie Toone, Baird helps establish a formidable defensive wall. Baird is second on the team with 108 blocks, behind Toone's 114.
"Our freshmen and younger players are really improving," Launiere said. "When the season began, we really didn't know how fast they'd develop or how much we'd be able to count on them. But lately, they've been as good as we could hope for."
In fact, the youth movement at Utah has resulted in six straight wins for the Utes and eight victories in their past nine matches. The Utes, thanks to all that success, find themselves in second place in the conference standings with a 9-3 record.
Last week against BYU, Baird had eight kills and a team-high five blocks as the Utes swept the 12th-ranked Cougars in Crimson Court.
With only four matches left in the regular season, Baird and the Utes will try to finish on a strong note before heading to Las Vegas for the MWC Tournament, where they will try to earn another berth in the NCAA tourney.
E-mail: jeborn@desnews.com