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7:00 PM
Volleyball
vs Iowa State
Thursday, September 14
Salt Lake City, UT
7:00 PM
University of Utah
8-2
2
vs
3
Brigham Young
9-1
1
2
3
4
5
F
BYU
16
25
25
20
18
3
Utah
25
13
17
25
16
2
#16 Utes Fall to #14 Cougars in Five Sets Thursday Evening
9/14/2017 10:58 PM | Volleyball
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah's Dani Barton tallied a team-high 15 kills and seven total blocks, but it wasn't enough as the No. 14-ranked Utes dropped a five-set thriller to the No. 16-ranked BYU Cougars (25-16, 13-25, 17-25, 25-20, 16-18) before a record crowd of 4,736 fans at the Huntsman Center Thursday evening.
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Utah cruised to a first-set victory, outhitting the Cougars .405 to .360 and taking the frame 25-16. Adora Anae led the way with six kills and Bailey Choy assisted on 18 of Utah's 19 kills in the set. BYU came back to notch the match at 1-1 with a 25-13 winner. Utah totaled just nine kills in the set and BYU's defense limited the home team to a hitting percentage of .034.
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Utah came back to register a .344 hitting percentage in the third set, but it wasn't enough as BYU took the frame 25-17. BYU opened the set with a 3-0 run and later used a 7-2 run to push its lead to 16-8. Both teams would trade points until back-to-back BYU points made it a 22-14 game. BYU closed out the set winning three of the final six points to take the set.
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Utah pushed the match to a decisive fifth set after winning the fourth frame, 25-20. After trading points to open the set, Utah call and early timeout, which led to a 9-4 run and an 11-7 lead. BYU called timeout, but the Utes followed with another run to extend the lead to 16-9. The Cougars called its final timeout of the frame and countered with runs of 5-1 and 5-3, but a kill from Tawnee Luafalemana sent the match to a fifth set with a kill. Â
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The fifth set would go back-and-forth, with the Cougars leading by as many as three points, up 12-9, but Utah's 3-0 run notched the frame at 12-all. BYU and Utah would trade point-for-point over the next few serves, but the Cougars won the final two points to take the set 18-16.
"I liked our effort a lot and I liked that we were able to come back," said Utah head coach Beth Launiere. "I thought we started out playing great volleyball. Everything was clicking obviously. I liked how we came back in sets four and five a lot. I thought it showed a lot about our team and different people were able to come up for us, which is something that I think is a sign of our team as we are continuing to grow.
"We have different players that can come up in different situations for us. Dani got hot and played huge for us when Adora was struggling there for a little bit. Berkeley really made a change when we adjusted our block a little to stop their outside hitter. Both Berkeley and Tawnee both did a nice job on that. We made some nice adjustments but sets two and three were rough, but we responded."
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Utah dropped to 8-2 with the loss, snapping a seven-match win streak in the process. BYU improved to 9-1 with the win. BYU leads the all-time series 70-30 in what was the 100th meeting between the two teams.
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The Utes totaled 67 kills and hit .259 on the evening, and despite out-blocking the Cougars 13.5 to 7.0, BYU managed to outhit the Utes with a .277 hitting percentage. Utah totaled four aces on the evening, but committed 14 service errors on the night.
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Anae finished the evening recording her fourth double-double of the season, notching 13 kills and 12 digs. Trueman added 12 kills and Berkeley Oblad chipped in with 10 kills for the Utes. Oblad and Luafalemana tallied six kills each.
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Bailey Choy set a new season-high with 54 assists and Kristen Abels led the Utes with a season-high 13 digs.
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Utah is back in action again tomorrow night when they close out non-conference play at Utah Valley. First serve between the Utes and Wolverines is set for 5 p.m. MT at Lockhart Arena in Orem.
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Utah cruised to a first-set victory, outhitting the Cougars .405 to .360 and taking the frame 25-16. Adora Anae led the way with six kills and Bailey Choy assisted on 18 of Utah's 19 kills in the set. BYU came back to notch the match at 1-1 with a 25-13 winner. Utah totaled just nine kills in the set and BYU's defense limited the home team to a hitting percentage of .034.
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Utah came back to register a .344 hitting percentage in the third set, but it wasn't enough as BYU took the frame 25-17. BYU opened the set with a 3-0 run and later used a 7-2 run to push its lead to 16-8. Both teams would trade points until back-to-back BYU points made it a 22-14 game. BYU closed out the set winning three of the final six points to take the set.
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Utah pushed the match to a decisive fifth set after winning the fourth frame, 25-20. After trading points to open the set, Utah call and early timeout, which led to a 9-4 run and an 11-7 lead. BYU called timeout, but the Utes followed with another run to extend the lead to 16-9. The Cougars called its final timeout of the frame and countered with runs of 5-1 and 5-3, but a kill from Tawnee Luafalemana sent the match to a fifth set with a kill. Â
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The fifth set would go back-and-forth, with the Cougars leading by as many as three points, up 12-9, but Utah's 3-0 run notched the frame at 12-all. BYU and Utah would trade point-for-point over the next few serves, but the Cougars won the final two points to take the set 18-16.
"I liked our effort a lot and I liked that we were able to come back," said Utah head coach Beth Launiere. "I thought we started out playing great volleyball. Everything was clicking obviously. I liked how we came back in sets four and five a lot. I thought it showed a lot about our team and different people were able to come up for us, which is something that I think is a sign of our team as we are continuing to grow.
"We have different players that can come up in different situations for us. Dani got hot and played huge for us when Adora was struggling there for a little bit. Berkeley really made a change when we adjusted our block a little to stop their outside hitter. Both Berkeley and Tawnee both did a nice job on that. We made some nice adjustments but sets two and three were rough, but we responded."
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Utah dropped to 8-2 with the loss, snapping a seven-match win streak in the process. BYU improved to 9-1 with the win. BYU leads the all-time series 70-30 in what was the 100th meeting between the two teams.
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The Utes totaled 67 kills and hit .259 on the evening, and despite out-blocking the Cougars 13.5 to 7.0, BYU managed to outhit the Utes with a .277 hitting percentage. Utah totaled four aces on the evening, but committed 14 service errors on the night.
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Anae finished the evening recording her fourth double-double of the season, notching 13 kills and 12 digs. Trueman added 12 kills and Berkeley Oblad chipped in with 10 kills for the Utes. Oblad and Luafalemana tallied six kills each.
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Bailey Choy set a new season-high with 54 assists and Kristen Abels led the Utes with a season-high 13 digs.
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Utah is back in action again tomorrow night when they close out non-conference play at Utah Valley. First serve between the Utes and Wolverines is set for 5 p.m. MT at Lockhart Arena in Orem.
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Team Stats
BYU
UTAH
Kills
61
67
Errors
18
26
Attempts
155
158
Hitting %
.277
.259
Points
70.0
84.5
Assists
56
65
Aces
2
4
Blocks
7.0
13.5
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
15
Aces
0
Blocks
7
Kills
13
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
6
Players Mentioned
L/DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballMB
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