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12:00 PM
Volleyball
vs Saint Mary's
Sunday, September 3
Los Angeles, Calif.
2:00 PM
University of Utah
3
at
0
Fresno State (USC Tournament)
No. 24 Volleyball Cruises to 3-0 Win
9/3/2006 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2006
LOS ANGELES - The No. 24-ranked University of Utah women's volleyball team (3-2 overall) got back on track as it cruised its way to a 3-0 victory over Fresno State today. The win wraps up action at the USC/LMU Classic here at the Lyon Center on the campus of USC. Utah went 2-1 over the weekend.
Game scores against FSU were 30-19, 30-18 and 30-17. The Bulldogs tumble to 1-6 on the year.
"To hold an opponent to under 20 points in three straight games is a good accomplishment," remarked head coach Beth Launiere. "We won convincingly today. We were able to string a lot of offensive runs together but I think we need to work on our side-out defense.
"I'm happy with our 2-1 mark this weekend. I would've been happier going 3-0 but after playing teams like Florida and USC, we know what we have to work on when we return to the gym this week. We know we can beat a team like USC but we're not quite there yet."
Save a few brief serves in game two, the Utes never trailed their rivals on the other side of the net this afternoon. Utah jumped out to 5-1 leads in games one and three, while it went up 21-14 in game two in rallying to dispense of a pesky two-point deficit. The Utes led wire to wire in the first and third frames.
Utah's offense got off to a slow start despite the 11-point win in game one. It only hit .156 in that game. The team settled on hitting a smooth .272 for the match. It topped out at racking up kills at a .333 clip in game two.
Leading the offense was Airial Salvo with her fourth straight double-double. She led all players with 12 kills and 17 digs. Kathryn Lovell was just behind Salvo with nine kills of her own.
Emillie Toone was the most efficient hitter of the match. She hit a match-high .462 and had seven kills (on 13 attempts) to go along with four total blocks.
Setter Shannon Krug started the match and led the team with 22 assists. She helped out on defense as well in tallying five digs and two total blocks. Sydney Anderson came off the bench in game three to run the offense. She had 10 assists in addition to two digs and one block.
The Utes held a commanding 13-4 lead in team blocks. Leading the Utes in that department was Lori Baird. She paced all players with five total blocks. Toone and Whitney Webb chimed in with four total blocks apiece.
Fresno State finished hitting a paltry -.033 for the match. It was led by Kelly Leonardo (nine kills), Tiffany Hess (13 assists), Cheryl Selenak (10 digs) while two Bulldogs had three total blocks apiece.
"To finish our five-match road swing with a win like this that makes me proud of this team," continued Launiere. "Now, we're ready to come home and play in front of our friends and family at Crimson Court."
The Utes will be at Crimson Court this weekend to host their home opener. They will host the Utah Classic on Fri.-Sat, Sept. 8-9, with Temple, Missouri State and Utah State all slated to descend on the University of Utah.
Notes - All 12 players saw action against Fresno State today ... Salvo had eight kills in the second game. She only had one in the first and finished with 12 for the match ... in Utah's three victories this season, its opponents have not hit over .100 ... the Utes have had 10-plus team blocks in each of the last four matches. It has also out-blocked their opponents in each of those matches.
Players Mentioned
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