WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: At Tempe, Ariz. the Wolverines capped off their 3-0 weekend at the ASU Sheraton Invitational this weekend with a 3-1 defeat of High Point University (26-24, 25-20, 17-25, 25-21) on Saturday to win the invitational. UVU (5-5) previously beat UC Riverside and host Arizona State on Friday.
"I am very happy with how the girls responded to the different challenges within the match," UVU head coach Sam Atoa said. "We played well and I'm happy with our success this weekend. I was a great weekend for us, we were the best team here and we showed some potential with what we are trying to do and get better at. I'm really proud of each of the girls."
UVU was led on offensively on Saturday by junior Chelsey Heaps who finished with a team-high 15 kills. Junior Sarah Clement also finished in double figures in kills as she added 11 as well as five blocks. Senior Dani Robison also had a solid game for the Wolverines as she finished with nine kills, three blocks and two service aces. Freshman Brookelyn Campbell had the only double-double on the day for UVU as she put up 35 assists and 10 digs.
"I was really proud of Brookelyn (Campbell) for being able to help lead this team as a young freshman setter and for Kat (Stevens) for helping secure our defense on the back row. I thought Chelsey (Heaps) really stepped it up and played a very good tournament. Dain (Robison) too had a good tournament and I really like what we are doing in the middle. Different girls really contributed in different ways."
UVU's momentum from Friday night's win over Arizona State seemed to carry over early in the first set as they took a 5-1 lead. High Point (2-8) then struck back as they tied it at 8-all and eventually took a 20-17 late lead. The Wolverines rallied though and eventually won the first set on an ace from senior Kathleen Stevens to take the first set 26-24.
In a close second set, the Wolverines took a three-point lead at 11-8 on a service ace from Robison. HPU then answered and got within one at 12-11 but UVU countered by scoring five straight to go up 17-11. The Wolverines went on to take a 23-19 advantage late in the set. UVU went on to win the set by a score of 25-20 thanks to two consecutive HPU errors.
With the score all knotted up at four early in a must win third set for the Panthers; HPU got going as they scored five consecutive to go up 9-4. UVU got back within three points a couple of times but High Point eventually put the set away and won it by a score of 25-17.
In the fourth set, UVU got going when it took a 9-6 lead on consecutive points scored by senior Kayli Doxey, Robison and Heaps. The Wolverines then extended their lead when they went up 15-11 but HPU wouldn't go away as they cut it to 15-13. UVU then threatened to put the match away as it scored the next four to go up 19-13.
High Point continued to fight though as they scored six of the next seven points to get within one at 20-19. UVU wouldn't let High Point all the way back as they answered by scoring four of the next five points to get it to match point at 24-20. Junior Jaicee Kuresa finished off the Wolverine win as she scored the final kill of the match to give UVU the victory (25-21).
UVU will now come home and begin Great West Conference play on Thursday when it hosts conference-foe NJIT. Following the NJIT match, the Wolverines will head up to Logan, and will take part in the Utah State Invitational next Friday and Saturday.
WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: At Missoula, Mont., sophomore outside hitter Josselyn White had eight kills and a career-high seven block assists to lead Utah State to a sweep of North Dakota (25-19, 25-15, 25-19) here Saturday to win the 2010 Montana Invitational.
Utah State improved to 9-0 on the season with the win and is off to its best start to a season since the 1979 AIAW National Runner-up team won its first 11 matches. North Dakota fell to 8-3 on the year with the loss.
Sophomore opposite side hitter Shay Sorensen (North Ogden, Utah) was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, while senior setter Chelsea Fowles (Hollister, Calif.) and senior libero Christine Morrill (Neola, Utah) were both named to the all-tournament team.
Sorensen, who hit .278 during the tournament and averaged 2.64 kills and 1.18 blocks, posted career-highs with 14 kills and five block assists earlier Saturday against Temple. Fowles hit .526 during the tournament and averaged 8.64 assists, 1.73 digs, 1.00 kills and 0.45 blocks, while Morrill averaged 5.00 digs per set.
Sorensen had seven kills, five blocks and four digs against North Dakota, while junior outside hitter Liz McArthur (St. George, Utah) had eight kills. White (Smithfield, Utah) added four digs and two service aces to go along with her eight kills and seven blocks, while senior middle blocker Katie Astle (Sandy, Utah) had eight block assists.
Annika Smed had 10 kills and 13 digs to pace North Dakota.
Utah State hit just .095 (6-4-21) in the opening set, but still won by six points as it used a 6-1 run early on to break an 11-11 tie. North Dakota hit .138 (13-9-29) in the opening set, but had nine attack errors to go along with four service errors.
McArthur led Utah State with five kills in set two as the Aggies scored 11 of the final 12 points en route to the 10-point win. USU hit .150 (13-7-40) in the second set and held UND to a negative .108 (7-11-37) hitting percentage.
In the third and final set, Utah State scored four straight points to break a 17-all tie to notch the sweep. USU hit .139 (11-6-36) in the final set and held UND to a .000 (9-9-40) hitting percentage.
Utah State finished the match with a season-low .134 (30-17-97) hitting percentage and North Dakota hit .000 (29-29-106). USU also had 10 more team blocks (17-7) and five fewer service errors (8-3) in the match, while UND had eight more digs (46-38) and one more service ace (4-3).
Utah State will return to action on Tuesday when it travels to Provo, Utah to face BYU at 7 p.m. The match will be televised live on BYUTV.