The No. 17 University of Utah volleyball team had there last week of Pac-12 play where they took on the Oregon State Beavers and Colorado Buffs. It was a winning weekend for the Utes as they swept both teams in three sets. Utah is now 22-9, 14-6 Pac-12.
For their first match against the Beavers, it was a point-for-point battle before the Utes ran away with it and won all three sets to take the match. It was also senior night for the three Utah seniors Kinga Windisch, Berkeley Oblad, and Brianna Doehrmann.
In the first set, everything was tied up at 14 until the Utes went on a 6 point run to take the lead 20-14 and eventually take the set 25-16. The second set stayed tight the whole time, where the Utes got the lead early at 5-2 but the Beavers answered back at 18-17. Utah ended up taking the set 25-22. For the third and final set, Utah ran away with it leading by 11 points at 16-5. The Beavers didn’t give up easily, but the Utes were able to take it 25-18. In this match, almost all Utah players were able to get in for some playing time.
“I just really wanted to get people in. Everyone works so hard everyday and it’s hard because it’s a long season,” said Coach Beth Launiere. “Everyone went in and did a great job.”
Oblad had a killer match with no errors, led the team with 16 kills, and 4 blocks. Dani Drews was right behind her with 12 kills. Megan Yett led the defense with 10 digs. The Utes had a hitting percentage of .296 on the night and tabbed 7 blocks.
The second match against the Colorado Buffs was another three set sweep from the Utes. For the first set, Utah took the lead when they went on an 8-1 run to go up 19-12 and eventually take the first 25-20. In the second set, Colorado took the lead first, but the Utes gained momentum going on an 8-2 run giving them the lead at 21-17. The Utes took the second set at 25-18. The third and final set was another point for point battle where Utah took it at 25-19. Drews led the team with 21 kills and hit .302. Overall Utah had 49 kills and hit .292.
With 14 wins, Utah has the most conference wins since joining the Pac-12. Their record puts the team at third place, which is the highest finish since joining the Pac-12 in 2011. Oblad also became the program leader in sets and matches played in Utah history.
“I really thought I was going to be more emotional on senior night but I’ve prepared myself to go so much further this season, and I knew our season wasn’t over that day.” Doehrmann said. Right now, she is only a couple digs away from beating the Utah program history in digs.
The selection show for the Utah volleyball team will be on Sunday, Dec. 1 at 6:30 p.m. It is looking promising that the Utes might get a home playoff, but there is also a high chance we head down to Provo with BYU.
m.arnold@dailyutahchronicle.com
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