UVU played four games in less than a week taking one loss, but finishing with a three-game winning streak.
The Wolverines started off this series of games on Sept. 16 going up against Oregon, ranked 12th in the country. UVU fought hard through three sets and kept pace with Oregon, but it wasn’t enough to put them over the top, dropping the match to Oregon 3-0.Â
“It’s been great that these kids have been able to give themselves opportunity after opportunity against these very good teams,” said head coach Sam Atoa.
UVU’s Camie Manwill gave 10 kills and 11 digs recording her sixth double-double of the season. Kayli Broadbent added 17 kills and Chelsea Fa’alogo finished with 35 assists against Oregon.
The next two nights UVU swept Boise State on the road and then beat Chicago State at home in the first Great West Conference match of the season. “We talked about it (the three straight matches) and the girls understood, regardless of who our competition was, we still needed to play hard and execute well,” said Atoa.
After the three consecutive matches the team had a few days off before returning home. On Sept. 22, UVU took on in-state rival SUU for both school’s first match in history.
SUU came out strong to take on the Wolverines, but UVU was able to sweep all three sets and win the match. By the third set, SUU looked tired and UVU took advantage by getting a convincing lead towards the end leaving the T-Birds in the dust. “I thought that we did some good things. SUU played hard and we expected that,” said Atoa.Â
UVU put up big numbers again in this match. Manwill recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 10 kills and 16 digs, Broadbent put down 16 kills, freshman Erica Nish had eight kills in her first career start, Allyce Jones tallied 16 digs and Fa’alogo gave a big 36 assists.
UVU will be back in action on home court Oct. 1 against Great West opponent North Dakota.
