SALT LAKE CITY – The No. 22-ranked Utah volleyball team closed out this year’s fall camp with the annual Red & White match on Saturday afternoon, playing through a five-set battle inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center. The Red team, which was led by sophomore transfer Lauren Jardine’s match-high 25 kills, pulled away with the 15-11 win in the fifth set to claim bragging rights over the white team.
“I really like the competitiveness we saw on the court today and thought we continued to get better as the match went on, and that is what you really want to see in this type of setting,” head coach Beth Launiere said. “It is good to go through game day routines and feel prepared for next weekend. A lot of the details we worked on in fall camp we really did well and there are things we can definitely get better at moving forward. We are really excited to open the season in a week at the Utah Classic!”
Jardine got off to a quick start in the first set after collecting eight kills to guide the red team to a 25-20 victory. The red team pulled out to quick lead after a 6-0 run and later scored three more points in a row to lead 12-6 and force a timeout. The white team managed to trim the lead to just three points after a few attack errors, but the red team would pull away once again and hang on for the win. The red team also used four service aces from four different players to their advantage in the opening frame.
The white team bounced back in the second set as Madelyn Robinson totaled five kills in the set to match her first set production, while Allie Olsen exploded for six kills on eight swings with no errors. The tough serving also switched sides with the white team collecting three aces and the red team earning none. Freshman Viktoria Wahlgren led the white team to a .379 hitting percentage as she finished with 13 assists in the set. The Ute squads battled closely the entire frame until the white team managed to put together a 5-1 run to lead 19-15 and never look back.
Robinson continued her strong outing with six kills on eight swings in the third set to lead the white team to a 2-1 advantage in the match. Emily Smith led the white team in the third set as she collected 10 assists. The blocking came to life with Olsen posting five blocks in the frame, teaming up with Smith and Ashley West for a pair, along with Abby…
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