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Friday, October 7
Pullman, Wash.
7:00 PM
University of Utah
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at
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Washington State
Utah Volleyball Takes Four-set Victory at Washington State
10/7/2011 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 7, 2011
PULLMAN, Wash. - Freshman outside hitter Shelby Dalton and sophomore middle blocker Erin Redd tied for team-high honors with 10 kills apiece as the University of Utah volleyball team recovered from a first-set loss to defeat Washington State, 3-1 (22-25, 25-15, 25-23, 25-16), Friday in Pac-12 Conference match at Bohler Gym.
Utah (7-10, 2-6 Pac-12) turned in a solid defensive performance at Washington State as it outblocked the Cougars, 14.0 to 4.0, and limited WSU to a .114 hitting percentage. The Utes have outblocked their opponents in 13 of 17 matches this season
"We came back from the first set and ended up playing a really nice match," Utah head coach Beth Launiere said. "We blocked a lot of balls and made a lot of plays. We played together as a team. The things we worked on during practice last week - like staying connected and communicating on the floor - really helped us tonight. It really paid off. We played well as a team.
"We wanted to get out to a good start because Bohler Gym is a lot like Crimson Court," Launiere said. "It's a very similar environment. It's a fun place to play in and fortunately it quieted down towards the end of the match, which was nice."
Redd needed only 17 swings to secure her 10 kills. She committed only two errors and had a .471 efficiency during the match. Redd turned in her seventh double-figure-kill match of the season and the 20th of her career. The Spanish Fork, Utah native was also second on the squad with six blocks.
Dalton set a new career-high with 10 kills and only committed a pair of errors on the attack as well and also drew a key defensive matchup on Washington State outside hitter Meagan Ganzer and came away with four blocks. Her previous career high in kills was six against Boston College on Sept. 3.
"She was huge for us tonight," Launiere said. "We matched her up on their top outside hitter. Offensively, she had a lot of kills, but more importantly we had her matched up on [Ganzer] and held her to a .065 hitting percentage. She did a great job and that was really a key to the match."
Senior middle blocker Danielle Killpack tied her season high with eight blocks to go along with six kills.
Sophomore outside hitter Morgan Odale added nine kills and nine digs and also contributed four blocks. The Star, Idaho native also registered a season-high three service aces.
Three Utes reached double-figures in digs, led by a career-high 18 by Chelsey Schofield. Schofield has had 10 or more digs in a match eight times this season. Junior setter McKenzie Odale had 16 digs, while Nikki Sim turned in 11. Sim has had 13 double-figure-dig matches so far in 2011.
McKenzie Odale and Abby Simmons split the setting duties for the Utes with both distributing 16 assists.
Washington State raced out to a 6-1 lead in the first set before Utah recovered nicely with a 5-1 stretch to cut its deficit to one point, 7-6. Unfortunately, the Utes could get no closer as the Cougars led by as many as eight (17-9). Utah struck back with a 9-1 spurt to climb to an 18-17 deficit, but could not get over the hump and fell 25-22 in the first set. Schofield had four kills on nine swings for a .444 efficiency and the Utes outblocked the Cougars, 4.0-0.0, during the opener. The Utes earned their second win this season when dropping the first set of a match.
The Utes took the first three of the first four points of the second set and never looked back. WSU cut Utah's lead to four points (17-13), but the Utes wouldn't let the Cougars get any closed as they cruised to a 25-15 second-set victory. The set victory was Utah's first since Sept. 13 at Colorado. The Utes outblocked the Cougars in the frame, 3-0. Dalton and Redd registered three kills each as the Utes outhit the Cougars, .286 to .147 in the frame.
"We played with a lot of confidence tonight," Launiere said. "One we got that second-set win under our belts. It felt good to finally get a lead early. We had been playing from behind so it just felt good to get a little breathing room."
Utah took the first three points and sprinted out to a 4-1 lead in the third before WSU tied the set for the first time at 9-9. The Utes regained three-point edge until 12-9, but the Cougars tied the set three more times (the last coming at 15) before they went on a 5-1 tear that gave them a 21-17 edge. Utah responded with a 6-1 stretch to seize a 23-22 lead. A kill by Morgan Odale followed by a WSU attack error gave the Utes the 25-23 second-set victory. Utah limited Washington State to a .077 efficiency on the attack, while five different Utes recorded at least two kills apiece. Utah earned a 4.0-1.0 advantage in team blocks.
The Utes got off to another quick start in the fourth set, this time with a 3-1 lead. Utah extended its advantage to five points and maintained that spread until the 19-14 mark when it added three straight scores to secure an eight-point edge (22-14) en route to a 25-16 victory to clinch the match. Morgan Odale paced the Ute attack with four kills in the finale as Utah hit .235 on the attack. The Ute defense limited the Cougars to a match-low -.047 hitting percentage.
Washington State (10-7, 2-5 Pac-12) was led by Ganzer on the attack, who registered a match-high 14 kills and nine digs. Rachel Todorovich turned in a double-double with 13 kills and 11 digs.
Utah heads to Seattle to face third-ranked Washington tomorrow at 7 p.m. PT. Fans can watch all of the action from Alaska Airlines Arena for free at gohuskies.com.
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