OREM — Utah Valley University kicked off day two of the La Quinta Inn and Suites Invitational with a 3-0 sweep of North Dakota State (25-14, 25-19, 25-19) on Saturday afternoon at the PE Building. True freshman Macky Treanor posted a record-setting and match-high 20 kills in the win.
Treanor set a UVU record for most kills in a three-set match, topping the previous record of 19 shared by Kayli Doxey (2009) and Alina Wallauer (2004). She finished the match with a .571 hitting percentage and was error free on her attack attempts.
"To have 20 kills and no errors is a great accomplishment," UVU head coach Sam Atoa said. "She kept things in control and had a great match for us. I don't think any of us are out to set records, but I'm proud of what she's doing for us as a freshman."
For the match, the Wolverines rode a .429 attacking percentage — the fourth-best mark in program history — and five players finished with at least five kills. Behind Treanor's 20 were eight from Kalani Norris, six from Lauren Stringham, and five apiece for Brookelyn Hall and Katie Fritzler. NDSU (0-2) swung at only .148 percent in dropping its second straight to begin the season.
"We didn't make very many errors and I thought the girls played smart and made good choices," Atoa said. "We felt like we had made a ton of errors last night (a 3-0 loss to Arizona State) and playing smarter was one of the things we had talked about after the match. But we know if we can reduce errors but maintain our aggressiveness, we can put ourselves in a good position. We did that today."
Setter Hall also posted 32 assists while libero McKenna Tait and Norris led the team with 11 digs each.
Trailing 2-0, the visiting Bison emerged from the intermission poised to extend the match and jumped out to a quick 7-3 advantage. But UVU battled back to tie the score at 9-9 behind four kills from Treanor. A Bison attack error gave the Wolverines the lead at 10-9, and the home team wouldn't relinquish it from there.
NDSU got to within two on a pair of occasions, but UVU answered as kills from Norris pushed the lead back to three each time. Norris' second kill sparked a 6-1 run that would ultimately put the set out of reach, running the lead from 15-13 to 21-14. The Wolverines had little trouble closing from there, sealing the match with a 25-19 victory in set three.
UVU never trailed in the first set as it cruised to a 25-14 win. Powering the strong start were six kills in the frame from Treanor while Fritzler, Norris and Stringham each added a pair. The Bison got as a close as 6-4 early in the set, but a 9-3 Wolverine run broke things open as Utah Valley swung a .542 hitting percentage, compared to just .130 from its counterparts.
UVU found itself trailing 12-10 in the second set, but back-to-back kills from Treanor quickly leveled things. What followed was a 5-1 spurt that gave the Wolverines some breathing room at 17-13. Treanor, Norris and Kaysie Taylor each tallied a kill in the rally.
NDSU hung around for the remainder of the set but never got closer than three points as UVU ultimately grabbed the second set, 25-19. Treanor picked up another seven kills to pace the Wolverines in the set, and Hall added three to go along with eight assists.
Utah Valley (1-1) will seek win number two tonight in the final match of the season-opening tournament as the Wolverines take the court at 7 p.m. to face 24th ranked Wichita State.
Kellen Hiser is an assistant sports information director at Utah Valley University. For more information on Wolverine athletics, visit WolverineGreen.com.