Utes Set To Open Season In Honolulu

Saturday, April 7

Honolulu, HI

1:00 PM

University of Utah

Hawai'i

4/5/2018 9:08 AM | Beach Volleyball

Utah to face Hawaii, Washington and Loyola in first-round action

HONOLULU – The Utah beach volleyball team will open its 2018 season this weekend, competing in the Hawaii Queen's Cup, which will take place at Queen's Beach in Waikiki.

The Utes will open the event on Saturday, April 7, participating in three matches. Utah (0-0) will get the season underway against tournament host and No. 3-ranked Hawaii (23-3) at 9 a.m. HT/1 p.m. MT and will later take on fellow Pac-12 member Washington (6-6) at 12:45 p.m. HT/4:45 p.m. MT. The Utes will close out play on Saturday against No. 16-ranked Loyola Marymount (13-9) at 2 p.m. HT/6 p.m. MT.

Sunday's matches will be seeded following win/losses from Saturday's matches. Semifinals will be played at 8:30 and 10 a.m. HT, with the championship match to be played at 1 p.m. HT. A third-place match will be played at 11:30 a.m. HT.

Utah is in its second season of beach volleyball following its inaugural season in 2017. The Utes went 2-12 overall a season ago, picking up a regular-season win against San Francisco, while also notching a victory over Oregon in the first round of the Pac-12 Championship last season.

Dani Barton, who returns for her sophomore season, led the Utes with six pairs wins last season. She was later named All-Pac-12 Second Team and a member of the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team. Sophomore Bailey Choy was second on the team having registered five pairs wins.

Other returners from last season's team include Berkeley Oblad, Adora Anae, Tawnee Luafalemana, Brianna Doehrmann and Lauren Sproule. New to the beach team this season are Kenzie Koerber, Lauga Gauta, Kennedi Evans, Alexa Van Komen, Melissa Powell, Olivia Teerlink and Phoebe Grace.

Live stats will be provided for each match this weekend, with links found at both UtahUtes.com and HawaiiAthletics.com.

QUEEN'S CUP SCHEDULE
Saturday, April 7
Hawaii vs. Utah, 9 a.m. HT
Loyola Marymount vs. Washington, 10:15 a.m. HT
UH vs. LMU, 11:30 a.m. HT
Utah vs. Washington, 12:45 p.m. HT
Utah vs. LMU, 2:00 p.m. HT
UH vs. Washington, 3:15 p.m. HT

Sunday, April 8
Semifinal 1, 8:30 a.m. HT
Semifinal 2, 10:00 a.m. HT
3rd-Place Match, 11:30 a.m. HT
Championship, 1:00 p.m. HT