No. 21 Utah Falls in Five Sets to Villanova

Friday, September 7

Villanova, PA

5:00 PM

University of Utah

5-2

Villanova

6-1

Utah

Villanova

9/7/2018 8:20 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Four Utes Have Double-Digit Kills and Team Hits .313

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – No. 21 Utah dropped its first match in the Villanova Volleyball Invitational to the host team Villanova in five sets on Friday, September 7.

The Utes won the first and the third sets, but Villanova responded each time and then won the decisive fifth set on their home floor.

Utah had four players with double-digit kills led by sophomore Dani Drews who had 22. It's the third time this season she's had at least 20 kills and her third double-double of the season as she also had 15 digs.

In both sets that the Utes won, they used big runs and held 19-10 leads. In the first set, after a delay because of the a leak in the roof when the score was 8-6, the Utes settled in going on a run to build a nine-point lead. The Wildcats got back into it a little bit, but Utah closed it out 25-20.

In the third set, Utah held onto its nine-point lead to go back up in the match after winning the set 25-16.

Early in the fifth set with the score tied at two, Villanova went on a 4-0 run and Utah didn't recover after that. The Wildcats closed out the final set 15-9.

This was the third five-set match for the Utes this season.

Utah hit .313 in the match. It was the third time in four matches they have hit over .300 as a team. Unfortunately, Villanova hit .343.

The other Utah players with double-digit kills were Lauga Gauta (16), Phoebe Grace (11) and Kenzie Koerber (10). Gauta hit .385 in the match with only one error in 39 attacks.

Bailey Choy had a big night finishing the match with 50 assists and 13 digs.

The Utes will be back on the court tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. to take on Temple.