Utah Volleyball Sweeps Cal in Berkeley

Friday, October 7

Berkeley, Calif.

9:00 PM

University of Utah

12-4, 3-2Pac-12

California

6-9, 0-5Pac-12

Utah

California

10/7/2016 10:55 PM | Volleyball

Box Score UVB16-16 Box Score (PDF)

The Utes post first ever sweep over Cal.

BERKELEY, Calif. – The Utah Utes (12-4, 3-2) defeated the California Golden Bears (6-9, 0-5) in straight sets (25-23, 25-20, 25-16) on Friday night at the Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif., giving Utah its first ever sweep over California in school history.

Utah and California opened the match trading points back and forth until a 3-0 run pulled the Utes ahead 15-11. California countered with a 3-0 run of their own, but a kill from junior Tawnee Luafalemana would end the run, making it 16-14. Leading 19-15, sophomore Jessie Openshaw forced Cal to take a timeout after a service ace, but out of the timeout the Golden Bears rallied off four straight points to tie the first set at 19-19. Back-to-back blocks for Utah made the score 24-21 and Luafalemana would end the first set on a kill, giving Utah a 1-0 lead.

Tied at 4-4 in the second set, Utah would score nine of the next 11 points to build a 13-6 lead. The Utes controlled the momentum of the game and eventually led 20-13 after kills from Luafalemana and junior Adora Anae. After a kill from Anae, California went on a 6-1 run which forced Utah to take a timeout leading 24-20. Anae finished the set, 25-20, with her 13^th kill of the match to head into intermission leading the Golden Bears 2-0.

Utah opened the third set with back-to-back kills from junior Eliza Katoa and a kill from Luafalemana to go up 3-0. California would tie things up 6-6, but a kill from Glasker would be the beginning to a 6-0 run forcing Cal to call a timeout trailing 12-6. Cal would keep within six points midway through the frame but Utah would pull away with the win, 25-16.

Emma Kirst = ??????@UtahVolleyball
Watch: https://t.co/ZLABafSnBV https://t.co/LmkvV9Cwbd
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) October 8, 2016

Anae led the Utes with 15 kills, while also recording seven digs. Glasker notched a career-high nine kills with a .438 hitting percentage. Luafalemana and Katoa also added seven kills each for Utah. Katoa hit a team-best .636 and Luafalemana hit .500 on the night.

Sophomore Megan Shughrou led Utah defensively with eight digs, while freshman Bailey Choy added six digs. Openshaw and Choy ran the offense, finishing with 21 assists and 18 assists, respectively.

Utah finished the match hitting .347 as a team, while limiting Cal to just a .160 hitting effort. Utah had 9.0 total team blocks with Luafalemana leading the Utes at the net totaling 4.0 total blocks.

The Utes will be back in action on Sunday, facing No. 7-ranked Stanford at 1 p.m. PT.