Kenzie Jones, Sports Editor, @KenzieScribbler
On Saturday afternoon Utah Valley faced off against Bakersfield that carried into five sets and ended in Bakersfield’s favor. The loss drops the Wolverines into a tie for fourth place in conference standings and Bakersfield into a tie for second do to the win. The Western Athletic Conference match final scores are 28-30, 20-25, 25-23, 25-17, 13-15.
The opening set had the Wolverines getting off to a strong start as they found a quick 8-3 lead. Utah Valley managed to hold on to the advantage until Bakersfield reeled off a 6-1 run to tie the score at 19-all. The 21-24 set point lead later went to CSUB but UVU came back with three unanswered points to tie it up at 24-all. The score was ran up as the frame went back and forth until the Roadrunners converted back-to-back kills from Kelsee Sawyer to take the set.
The second marked UVU once again building an early 8-3 lead, but Bakersfield was right there and battling back hard. The Roadrunners took a run of their own to take a lead of 11-13. USCB stretched their advantage to five (14-19) but the Wolverines came back as they pulled within two a couple of points later at 17-19. CSUB held onto their lead and took the frame by five.
After dropping the first two sets by a relatively small margin, Utah Valley found a pace to get things rolling in the third. The Wolverines built up a strong 10-6 lead, but Bakersfield came right back to tie the score at 12-all. The set stayed tight from there until the Wolverines pulled together four straight points and took a 21-17 advantage. Kalani Norris led the run with a pair of kills. The Roadrunners pulled out a late comeback to bring the score within one at 24-23, but UVU still were the ones to put the set away. The final point went to the Wolverines and was scored off a CSUB attack error.
UVU continued right were they left off as the fourth set showed them jumping out to an early lead of 8-3. The Wolverines were later able to stretch that advantage to seven (17-10) following consecutive kills from Norris, Cassie Wahlin, and Lauren Bakker. They held on to the lead for the remainder of the frame and ended up taking the set by eight points following a block assist from Wahlin and Madison Wolford.
CSUB came into the fifth and decisive set ready to win and gained an early lead of 5-8. This was latter continued as the Roadrunners extended their advantage to 9-13. Three unanswered points cut the deficit to one for the Wolverines and brought the score to 12-13. With Bakersfield holding a 12-14 match-point advantage, Utah Valley took control of a CSUB miscue to make it a one point game. It wasn’t enough as the Roadrunners put the match away on the next point via a Sydney Haynes kill.
The lady Wolverines now head out on a four-match road stretch that will span the next two weeks. The first game will take place on Tuesday in Cedar City for an in-state face off against Southern Utah.
