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Volleyball
vs Iowa State
Friday, September 11
Santa Clara, Calif.
7:00 PM
University of Utah
0
vs
3
Arizona
Utah Volleyball Drops Match to No. 25 Arizona
9/11/2009 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 11, 2009
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Junior opposite hitter Karolina Bartkowiak posted a team-high eight kills but the University of Utah volleyball team could not avoid a 3-0 loss to No. 25 Arizona (16-25, 16-25, 18-25) in its first match of the Santa Clara Invitational Friday at the Leavey Center.
"We have to develop and mature as a team and start playing with more control and confidence," Utah head coach Beth Launiere said. "We're playing pretty good volleyball but we let the other team dictate what is going on too much. We do well when we have success, but we have to figure out how to play tougher and stronger when we're struggling. We have a lot of good pieces to work with but we have to put it all together."
Utah (6-3) was outhit .288 to .055 and outblocked 9 to 5 by the Wildcats in the match, the first time this season the Utes hit under .200.
Sarah Hibbert had six kills, while Chelsey Sandberg and Jennifer Lanting recorded five kills apiece. Junior setter Stephanie Neeley set up 18 Ute kills, while sophomore Abby Simmons distributed 10 assists during the match.
Defensively, libero Keisha Fisher turned in a match-high 16 digs. At the net, Sandberg came up with a team-high three blocks while Cinthia Silva and Miranda Bradshaw had two blocks apiece.
The Wildcats grabbed a 16-10 lead in the first set and went on to take a 25-16 victory, their largest lead of the set. The Utes were outhit.314 to .167 in the opener while neither team was credited with a block. Bartkowiak and Lanting totaled three kills apiece and Fisher came up with a set-high seven digs.
Utah took its first lead of the match at the start of the second set and eventually jumped out to a 4-2 lead. Arizona took the lead back with an 8-1 run and extended its lead to nine points at 17-8 and went on to win the second set by the same margin, 25-16. Three Utes, Sandberg, Bartkowiak and Silva had two kills apiece in the set but Arizona managed a .324 to .031 edge in hitting and a 4 to 2 advantage in blocking during the set. The Utes did serve two aces in the set while not yielding a single ace to the Wildcats.
A pair of Hibbert kills gave the Utes a 4-2 lead to start the third set but the set became tied at six points before Arizona scored eight consecutive times to assume a 14-6 edge before a Silva kill stopped the UA run. The Wildcats' lead grew to as many as 12 points before the Utes put together a 6-1 run but eventually fell 25-18.
No. 25 Arizona (8-0) was led by Tiffany Owens and Courtney Karst, who posted 12 kills apiece in the match.
The Utes conclude their six-match road stretch in the Santa Clara Invitational finale against the host Broncos tomorrow at 7 p.m. PT.
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