#17 Utah Downs Arizona in Four Sets on Senior Night

Saturday, November 18

Salt Lake City, UT

7:00 PM

University of Utah

21-8, 12-6

Arizona

10-17, 4-14

Arizona

Utah

#17 Utah Downs Arizona in Four Sets on Senior Night

11/18/2017 9:40 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Utah 3, Arizona 1

Utah earns the season sweep over Arizona

SALT LAKE CITY- The No.17-ranked Utah Utes (21-8, 12-6 Pac-12) recorded a four set win (20-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-15) over the Arizona Wildcats (10-17, 4-14) on senior night at the Huntsman Center Saturday night.

Utah struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the first set as the Utes would hit just .023 and drop the set 25-20. Utah fell behind early in the first set and trailed Arizona by six midway through the frame, 15-9. Utah went on a 5-1 run to trail just 16-14, but Arizona pushed its lead to back to five points at 20-15. The Utes managed to put together a 5-1 run to force an Arizona timeout with the Wildcat lead cut to 21-20, but the rally wasn't enough as Arizona scored four straight points to take the set 25-20.

The Ute offense turned things around in the second set as the Utes connected on 16 kills while having just two hitting errors to record a .483 hitting percentage. Utah and Arizona traded points to open the frame until Utah trailed 8-7, and the Utes managed to put together a 9-1 run to take the lead 16-9. Utah rolled the rest of the set and closed out the frame scoring four straight to take the second set 25-15. Tawnee Luafalemana totaled four blocks and three kills during the set, while Berkeley Oblad added in six kills for the Utes.

Utah continued its momentum out of intermission, scoring the first four points of the third set. Arizona scored the next two points after calling timeout, but a 9-2 Utah run gave the Utes a commanding lead at 13-4. Leading 19-13, the Utes closed out the third set scoring six of the final eight points to take the fourth set 25-15.

Utah and Arizona traded points to start the fourth set until Utah went on a 4-1 run to lead 15-10 midway through the frame. Still leading the Wildcats at 17-13, a block from Oblad began a 4-0 run to push the lead to 21-13. After an Arizona sideout, Utah rolled to a fourth set win after scoring four of the final five points in the set. A kill from Luafalemana capped off the fourth set 25-15 and helped the Utes take the match 3-1.

Three Utes recorded double-digit kill efforts with seniors Adora Anae and Luafalemana each totaling 13 kills, while Oblad added in 10 kills on the evening. Carly Trueman also pitched in eight kills.

Four Utes reached double-digit digs in the win with Anae leading the way after recording a match-high 19 digs to notch a double-double. Brianna Doehrmann totaled 14 digs, Shannon Scully notched 10 digs, and Bailey Choy registered 13 digs. Along with the 13 digs, Choy also earned a double-double after totaling 37 assists.

Luafalemana, Oblad, and Kenzie Koerber led the charge at the net, each totaling six blocks.

Utah completes its last week of conference play beginning next Wednesday against Stanford. Following the contest at Stanford, the Utes will travel to Colorado for the final match of Pac-12 play.