WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: At Springfield, Mo., three players had 10 or more kills and three had 10 or more digs as the Utes fell in five sets to Missouri State Saturday against Missouri State (18-25, 18-25, 25-21, 25-10, 9-15) in the third match of the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational in the Hammons Student Center.
Utah (4-4) held Missouri State to a .188 hitting percentage, its fourth match in which it has its opponents under a .200 hitting percentage this season. Morgan Odale had 19 kills and 18 digs in the match for her fourth double-double this season. Odale has hit for 10 or more kills in seven of her first eight matches of her Utah career.
The Utes came back from a 2-0 deficit to force a fifth set.
"After the second set, we started making more defensive stops," Utah head coach Beth Launiere said. "The we started getting kills throughout sets three, four and five. We really slowed [Missouri State] down, they hit for a negative percentage in the fourth set. We just have to be a lot more consistent in stopping teams."
Karolina Bartkowiak registered 12 kills and six digs for her 14 career double-digit-kill performance.
Sophomore outside hitter Brooke McAlister came up with 11 kills and a pair of digs.
Setters Stephanie Neeley recorded her second consecutive double-double, and the 19th of her career. Sophomore McKenzie Odale had a double-double as well with 18 assists and 11 digs.
Senior libero Keisha Fisher posted a team-high 16 digs. The Ririe, Idaho native recorded her seventh double-figure-dig match this year and the 67th of her career. She has hit double-figures in her last 10 matches.
There were three ties in the first set until the score was tied at six and the Bears scored four consecutive points to build a 10-6 lead. MSU maintained its four-point spread at 17-13 before the Utes took four of the next five points to cut their deficit to one point, 18-17. Unfortunately, Missouri State regained a four-point edge at 22-18 and went on to win the set, 25-18. Morgan Odale had a team-high six kills and five digs and junior outside hitter Jennifer Lanting added four kills, while Sarah Collette and Bartkowiak both had three kills apiece.
The second set was knotted at four apiece, before back-to-back Missouri State attack errors gave the Utes a 6-4 edge early in the set. Unfortunately, the Bears came back to force a tie with the Utes at 10 points apiece. MSU's lead would grow to as many as seven points (19-12) en route to a second consecutive 25-18. Utah edged out a two-point lead to start the third set before Missouri State tied the set at nine points apiece. The set would be tied seven more times but Utah took five of the final six points to earn the victory, 25-21, to make the match 2-1.
The Utes jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the fourth set and extended their lead to eight points (15-7) with a 5-1 run. Utah's would go on to even the match at two sets apiece with a 25-10 victory, which turned out to be its largest lead of the set. There were five ties early in the fifth and deciding set before Missouri State scored back-to-back points to assume a 9-8 advantage. The Bears scored four more unanswered points
Missouri State (8-1) was led by a team-high 17 kills from Christine McCartney. Cara Hackman registered a team-high 18 digs.
This was Utah's second five-set match this season. The Utes won the first one on Sept. 4 against Northwestern in Evanston, Ill.
The Utes will conclude play in the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational today at 5:30 p.m. CT against the Saint Louis Billikens.
WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: At Springfield, Mo., the Utes fell in a three-set decision to St. Louis (19-25, 18-25, 21-25) Saturday in its final match at the Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational at the Hammons Student Center.
Utah (4-5) was outhit .294 to .219 in the match and outblocked 6-5. The Utes did hit a match-high .407 in the third set but unfortunately could not avoid the loss.
Morgan Odale totaled 10 kills to go along with five digs and a block, while Brooke McAlister and Erin Redd both hit eight kills apiece.
Libero Keisha Fisher and setter Stephanie Neeley had 10 digs apiece. Fisher now has 68 consecutive matches in which she has recorded 10 digs or more. Neeley has turned in three consecutive double-doubles after coordinating the Ute attack with 23 assists.
The Utes conclude their season-long road trip next weekend at the Arizona State Tournament in Phoenix, Ariz. Utah opens the event Friday against Pacific. First serve is set for 5 p.m.
MEN'S TENNIS: Thomas Shubert battled teammate Evan Urbina to take the Utah Fall Tennis Classic singles title Saturday for the second time.
The Cougar duel lasted almost two hours Saturday morning as No. 1 seed Shubert and No. 2 seed Urbina faced off in the three-set match.
"I thought they played really, really well for this time in the season," assistant coach Zack Warren said. "It was great to see a BYU player win the tournament. But it's always tough to see on of your players lose, especially when they both played with so much professionalism. I think they both represented BYU in a really good way."
Shubert took the first set 6-2, then lost the second set to Urbina 2-6. Urbina took the lead early in the final set, but Shubert came back to tie the set 2-2. From there, Shubert took the next three games and won the set 6-3.
"Evan played a great match," Shubert said. "It's very tough playing a teammate. Very stressful. Evan brings a lot of energy, a lot of fight. That's why he's a Cougar."
Shubert and Urbina are both ranked in the top 10 of the Mountain Region.
The last time Shubert grabbed the Utah Fall Tennis Classic singles title was 2008, defeating Christian Hodel of Boise State.
Keaton Cullimore and John Pearce won the doubles title Friday evening, defeating Matthew Cowley and Garrett Labarre 8-4. Cullimore and Pearce won against Cougars Patrick Kawka and Tyler Loong in the semifinals 8-6, and Cowley and Labarre defeated Shubert and Urbina 9-8.
Shubert and the Cougars are now preparing for the ITA All-American tournament, which will begin Oct. 2 in Tulsa, Okla.