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The University of Utah Athletics
2014 Utah Volleyball Final Season Notes
12/29/2014 12:00 AM | Volleyball
Dec. 29, 2014
- 2014 Final Season Notes (Complete Relase)
UTES CLOSE 2014 SEASON RANKED NO. 18
The Utah Utes went 20-13 overall and closed out the 2014 campaign ranked No. 18 in the final AVCA Poll, which was released on Monday, Dec. 22.
The Utes finish the season ranked inside the AVCA Top-25 for the seventh time in school history and for the first time since 2008 when the squad finished ranked No. 16 overall.
AVCA POLL RANKINGS
Utah earned an AVCA ranking in the final three regular-season polls and finished the season ranked No. 18 overall in the final poll for a total of four weeks inside the polls.
The Utes made its debut in the AVCA Top-25 back on Nov. 17, coming in at No. 23 and then came in at No. 23 again on Nov. 24. Utah moved up to No. 20 in the final regular-season poll on Dec. 1 and following a 1-1 showing at the NCAA Championship Tournament, finished the 2014 campaign ranked No. 18 overall.
Utah faced 10 teams this past season that finished ranked inside the top-25 poll and collected wins against five of those teams. Overall, Utah faced 12 opponents that were ranked inside the AVCA poll for at least one week this season.
UTES OPEN 2014 ON STRONG NOTE
Utah opened the 2014 season with 10-consecutive wins for a second-straight season and tied a school record for most consecutive wins to open a season. The 10-straight wins tied the fourth longest winning streak in school history as well.
UTES DEFEAT SCHOOL-RECORD SIX RANKED TEAMS
Utah collected a school record six wins over ranked opponents in 2014, picking up wins against No. 17 Arizona State (10/5), No. 19 USC (11/7), No. 15 UCLA (11/9), No. 2 Washington (11/15), No. 13 Oregon (11/25) and No. 18 Colorado (11/28).
The last time a Utah team had defeated three or more ranked teams in a season came back in 2007 when the Utes earned three victories over ranked teams as a member of the Mountain West Conference.
With its win over then-No. 19 ranked USC on Nov. 7 and No. 15-ranked UCLA on Nov. 9, Utah managed to win consecutive matches over a pair of ranked opponents for the first time since downing No. 20 Colorado State and No. 25 UNLV back in 2007.
UTAH VS. THE PAC-12
Utah tied its best mark in conference play since joining the Pac-12, finishing the 2014 campaign 9-11 in conference matches. Utah finished the season tied for seventh-place after closing out the regular-season winning seven of its final eight matches.
Five of Utah's last seven wins came against ranked Pac-12 opponents, which included upsetting then-No. 2 ranked Washington inside the Huntsman Center back on Nov. 15. Utah's only loss in the final eight matches came to No. 1 Stanford on the road.
DON'T CALL IT A COMEBACK
Utah clawed its way back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat California 3-2 (22-25, 21-25, 26-24, 25-17, 15-11) at the Huntsman Center back on Oct. 17. It marked the first time a Utah squad came back to win following a 2-0 deficit since Oct. 14, 2006 when Utah defeated Wyoming 3-2.
Earlier in the season, Utah had fell to a 2-0 deficit to both Colorado and Oregon State before coming back to tie the match 2-2, only to fall in both matches, 3-2.
MAKING QUICK WORK
Utah went 11-6 overall in three-set matches, which included a span of six-consecutive sweeps from Aug. 30 to Sept. 13. The Utes opened the season with sweeps in eight of its first 10 wins.
BACK-TO-BACK WINS
Utah earned its first back-to-back wins over Pac-12 in 2014 with victories over USC and UCLA back on Nov. 7 and Nov. 9. Utah would go on to win four-straight matches against Pac-12 foes for the first time since joining the league in 2011.
Utah swept both USC and UCLA to earn back-to-back sweeps over Pac-12 foes and back-to-back sweeps over a conference opponent for the first time since 2010 when the Utes downed Mountain West Conference opponents, Air Force (Oct. 16) and TCU (Oct. 21).
HOME SWEET HOME
Utah went 12-2 at home in 2014, which included a 5-1 mark inside Crimson Court and a 7-2 record inside the newly renovated Huntsman Center.
Utah is a combined 158-49 (.760) overall at in home matches played inside both Crimson Court and Huntsman Center since 2000. Since joining the Pac-12 Conference, Utah has gone 33-25 in both Crimson Court and the Huntsman Center.
THANKFUL FOR NOVEMBER
Utah went just 2-7 during the month of October, but just as soon as the calendar flipped to November, the Utes closed out the month with a record of 7-2.
RPI RANKINGS
Utah finished the 2014 season ranked No. 37 in RPI rankings.
Utah was one of 10 Pac-12 teams ranked inside the RPI's top-40 teams.
UTAH IN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
Utah earned the school's second-consecutive and 12th overall trip to the NCAA Championship Tournament after earning an at-large bid following the NCAA Selection Show on Nov. 30.
Utah downed Kansas State in the first round, sweeping the Wildcats in straight sets, but then fell 3-2 to No. 14-seeded Nebraska in a hard-fought battle in Lincoln, Neb.
The Utes, who advanced to the second round for the 10th time in school history, are now 12-12 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.
LAUNIERE CLOSES IN ON WIN NO. 500
Utah head coach Beth Launiere earned her 15th 20-win season with the Utes and concluded the 2014 campaign with and overall record of 491-303 (.620). She will head into the 2015 season needing just nine wins to capture win No. 500 in her career.
ALL-PAC-12 SELECTIONS
Utah seniors Shelby Dalton and Bailey Bateman, along with freshman Adora Anae, have been named to All-Pac-12 selections, the league office announced on Tuesday.
Dalton was named to the first-team and Bateman was tabbed an honorable mention selection, while Anae was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team. These were the first all-conference honors of any kind for each player.
ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT HONORS
Utah senior middle blocker Bailey Bateman and senior libero Lea Adolph were each named to the 2014 Capital One Academic All-District Volleyball Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Bateman, who earned her second all-district honor, was named to the first team and will advance to the Capital One Academic All-America Team ballot next month, while Adolph, a first-time selection, was tabbed a second team selection.
PAC-12 ALL-ACADEMIC HONORS
Six University of Utah student-athletes were named to the Pac-12 Volleyball All-Academic Team, the league office announced on last week.
Senior libero Lea Adolph and senior right-side hitter Shelby Dalton were each named first-team selections, while senior middle blocker Bailey Bateman was tabbed a second-team pick. Junior setter Kendall Cygan, senior setter Kalee Kirby and senior outside hitter Chelsey Schofield-Olsen earned honorable mention accolades as well.
PAC-12 HONORS
Utah had a program-best four players named Pac-12 Players of the Week in 2014. Senior Bailey Bateman was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week back on Sept. 15 and Carly Trueman was named the program's first-ever Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week on Nov. 10. Freshman Eliza Katoa was tabbed Utah's first-ever Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on Nov. 10 as well, and freshman Adora Anae followed with the same honor on Nov. 17.
SCHOFIELD-OLSEN MAKES HISTORY
Senior Chelsey Schofield-Olsen become just the fourth player in school history to become a member of the 1,000 kill/1,000 dig club earlier this season. The four-year veteran tallied 1,379 career kills and 1,286 career digs, joining Jenni Eyre (1984-87, 1,094 kills/1,103 digs), Brenda Barton-Whicker (1994-96, 1,565 kills/1,571 digs) and Morgan Odale (2010- 13, 1,322 kills/1,200 digs) as the only players to achieve this accomplishment.
She finishes her career ranked first in school history in career attack attempts (4,228), third in kills (1,379), fourth in digs (1,286), third in sets played (478) and tied for third in matches played (130).
BATEMAN ON THE BLOCK
Senior middle blocker Bailey Bateman closed out her four-year career ranked fifth all-time in school history in block assists (471) and sixth all-time in career total blcoks (492). Bateman had one of her best offensive seasons for the Utes as well in 2014, finishing the year with a .329 hitting percentage, which ranks tied for 10th highest in single-season school history.
DECORATING DALTON
Senior right-side hitter Shelby Dalton finished her lustrous four-year career with the Utes ranked seventh all-time with 406 career block assists. Dalton became Utah's first-ever All-Pac-12 First Team selection and she was an AVCA All-American Honorable Mention selection back in 2013.
CYGAN SETTING UP THE OFFENSE
Junior setter Kendall Cygan will head into her final year with the Utes next season, currently ranked seventh all-time with 1,864 career assists. The soon-to-be senior will need just 136 assists in 2015 to become just the seventh player in school history to accumulate 2,000 career assists.
ADOLPH MAKING THE DIG
Senior libero Lea Adolph collected a career-high 372 digs in 2014 and closed out her four-year career with the Utes ranked eighth all-time with 1,042 career digs. She became just the ninth player in school history to become a member of the 1,00 dig club.
FUTURE LOOKING BRIGHT FOR THE UTES IN 2015
Despite losing six seniors in 2014, Utah will head into the 2015 campaign with a lot of bright spots on the roster. Freshmen Adora Anae (2.46 kills/set, 70 TB), Eliza Katoa (2.11 k/s, .258 hitting pct.) and Carly Trueman (1.66 k/s, 1.06 blocks/set) will continue to have a major impact on the court for the Utes, while sophomore libero Tess Sutton (1.41 digs/set) will be a force for the squad on the back row.
Players Mentioned
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