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Volleyball
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Friday, August 25
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5:00 PM
University of Utah
3
at
0
Arkansas State (Aquafina Invitational)
Volleyball Sweeps Arkansas State in Season Opener
8/25/2006 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 25, 2006
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The University of Utah volleyball team raced out to a 1-0 overall start as it topped Arkansas State, 3-0, here in its season opener at the Aquafina Invitational in Gainesville, Fla.
Utah got off to a hot start in its first match of the year. It hit .472 after the first two games while the defense held ASU to only seven points in the first frame. The Utes finished hitting a smooth .380 for the match as they swept all three games on scores of 30-7, 30-25 and 33-31.
"It was clearly our first match of the year," said head coach Beth Launiere. "We weren't a fine-tuned machine but I thought that we served well and we showed a lot of heart in rallying to win from a deficit late in game three.
"Lori Baird had a good match but as a team, we struggled a bit out there. This was our first match of the year but we're going to come out and be a better team against Florida tomorrow night."
And, serving well they did as the Utes chalked up 12 aces to ASU's five. Leading Utah in that category was Airial Salvo and Lori Baird with three aces apiece.
Pacing the Utah offense was Salvo. The outside hitter was the only player in the match to tally double-digit kills as she racked up 18 on .395 hitting. Salvo was one of five Utah players to hit over .300 for the match.
Kathryn Lovell had the second most kills on the team with seven. She hit a team-best .583 for the match and didn't commit a single error on 12 swings. Lori Baird helped out with six kills while Emillie Toone, Kate Robison and Whitney Webb each had five.
Utah used both of its setters in the victory. Freshman Sydney Anderson chalked up 21 assists while preseason all-conference pick Shannon Krug came off the bench and handed out 18 assists. The setters guided the team to a match-high .733 (11 kills, 0 errors and 15 attempts) hitting in game one and settled for a .380 average for the match.
Utah's defense picked up where it left off in 2005. It held the Indians to a paltry .077 but ASU held the slimmest of margins in blocking, 6-5.
Leading Utah's stingy defense was Toone and her match-high five blocks. Another four Utes helped out with one block assist each.
Libero Connie Dangerfield returned to the court after a year off to scoop up eight digs. Salvo helped out with eight digs of her own while Lovell chalked up another seven.
Leading the Indians was Randilyne Volkmer with eight kills, Katie Peil with a match-high 29 assists, Robin Aaron with four blocks and Stormy Schuler with six digs.
Utah returns to the court tomorrow, Aug. 26, for its second game of the Aquafina Invitational. It will battle No. 5-ranked Florida at 5 p.m. (MDT).
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