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1:30 PM
Volleyball
vs California Baptist
Friday, August 24
Omaha, Neb.
5:00 PM
University of Utah
0
vs
3
UCLA (AVCA Showcase)
Utes Fall to UCLA, 3-0, at AVCA Showcase
8/24/2007 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 24, 2007
OMAHA, Neb. - Behind 11 kills from Kathryn Haynie, the Utah women's volleyball team opened its season with a 3-0 (30-23, 30-21, 30-27) loss to UCLA at the AVCA Showcase in Omaha, Neb.
Despite the 3-0 score, the No. 21 Utes held the No. 5 Bruins to within a few points through most of the three games.
In addition to Haynie's 11 kills, senior Connie Dangerfield tallied 21 digs, while freshman Keisha Fisher, who made her first start for the Utes, had 34 assists and 17 digs.
"I thought we did some really good things tonight," head coach Beth Launiere said. "There wasn't a lot of flow to our game, but we did get into flow at times. I thought we competed very well in games one and three. That was a big goal of ours and I thought we did a good job of that, especially coming out of the locker room after game two. We're going to keep our heads held high and come out every match and get better as the season goes on. I think we'll learn a lot from this competition and that's going to be important for us. We've got some young players and we've just got to put it together. I was proud of how we competed tonight."
Senior Whitney Webb tallied eight kills and six digs, while Kate Robison had nine kills and 14 digs.
In game one, UCLA took a chance to take an early lead. With the score tied, 6-6, Meghan Schoen, Ali Daley and Kaitlin Sather each reeled off kills to give the Bruins a 10-6 lead. Utah took a timeout to regroup, and was able to come back to within one point, 18-17. Whitney Webb, Lori Baird and Kate Robison helped lead the Utes comeback on the court.
Utah matched UCLA through the next several points. Haynie scored a kill to put the Bruin lead at 20-19 before UCLA reeled off six straight points to put the game out of reach, winning 30-23.
A run in the middle of the match was also key to UCLA's 30-21 victory in game two. With the score tied 10-10, the Bruins went on an 8-1 run to take an 18-11 lead. Although Utah came within three points, 22-19, with kills by Haynie, UCLA slowly pulled away at the end of the match.
The two squads went neck-in-neck in game three, with neither team able to gain more than a three-point advantage until the end of the match. Utah took a four-point lead late in the contest, 27-23, behind strong hitting by Haynie and freshman Karolina Bartkowiak, who had three kills in her debut. However, UCLA reeled off seven-straight points to end the match, 30-27.
Daley led UCLA with 11 kills, 13 digs and three service aces on the night. Nellie Spicer had 36 assists and Rachell Johnson tallied eight blocks.
Utah returns to action in the AVCA Showcase on Saturday at 6 p.m. against the loser of the second game of the Showcase, No. 1 Nebraska or Tennessee.
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