Utah Opens Season with Sweep of UTEP

Friday, August 30

Salt Lake City, UT

7:00 PM

University of Utah

1-0,0-0Big 12

University of Texas at El Paso

0-1,0-0CUSA

Team	1	2	3	Final F
UTEP	19	17	18	0
Utah	25	25	25	3

Photo by: Sophia Kuder/Utah Athletics

8/30/2024 11:16 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Head coach Beth Launiere earns 650th career win

SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Volleyball opened the 2024 season with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-18) sweep of UTEP. The first win of the season for the Utes was highlighted by a milestone win for head coach Beth Launiere, securing her 650^th career win as head coach.

Utah came out swinging early, taking a 9-6 advantage in the first set, capitalizing off a Kamryn Gibadlo kill. After UTEP began to chip away at the Utah lead, the Utes would win the race to 15, going up 15-10, coming off a Vanessa Ramirez ace. The Utes maintained a five-point advantage throughout the remainder of set, with Gibadlo putting down her fourth kill, giving Utah a 20-15 advantage. Allie Olsen helped bring the first set to a close, providing back-to-back points for the Utes with a kill and a block.

Utah trailed for the first time in the match during the early stages of the second set, 14-8. A service rally sparked by Isabelle Marco saw the Utes storm back to within one of the Miners, trailing midway through the set, 15-14. With Gibadlo back to serve, Utah rattled off seven unanswered points, taking the lead back from UTEP, 22-16. During Gibadlo's service run, she put down both of her aces on the evening, while Olsen added two more kills to her tally.

In the third set, Utah jumped out to a quick start, capturing an early five-point advantage, 8-3. The Utes would never relinquish the lead, extending the margin out to as many as eight points, leading 24-16.

Standout Stats

Kamryn Gibadlo posted a team-high 10 kills, finishing with a .381 hitting percentage on the evening.
Gibadlo would finish the evening leading the team in digs (7) and service aces (2).
Providing an additional spark to the Utah offense, Ashley West (8), Kamry Bailey (6), Emrie Satuala (6), Allie Olsen (6), Rianne Vos (5) each provided multiple kills.
Isabelle Marco (17) and Grace Hammond (13) finished with double-digit assists each.

Up Next
Utah returns for day two of the Utah Classic on Saturday, Aug. 31, taking on Utah State at 5 p.m. MT. The Utes will bring the weekend to a close on Sunday, Sept. 1 with their final match of the classic against Green Bay at 12:30 p.m. MT

SEASON TICKET TIME
Fans can secure their season tickets for the 2024 campaign and catch all of the action in the Huntsman Center, to help Utah Volleyball make the Huntsman Center the best home-court advantage in the nation. Visit UtahTickets.com to purchase tickets for all 14 home matches.

FOLLOW THE UTES
Fans can follow along on social media (Twitter: @UtahVolleyball | Instagram: @UtahVolleyball | Facebook: Facebook.com/Utahvolleyball), and the official mobile app of Utah Athletics, Utah360 [DOWNLOAD HERE].