SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Volleyball split its matches on the first day of the Utah Classic, downing Tennessee State in straight sets (25-20, 25-19, 25-16) before dropping a five-set marathon match to UC Santa Barbara (25-19, 22-25, 17-25, 25-17, 20-22) on Friday night.
Utah 3, Tennessee State 0
Utah opened the first match of the Utah Classic playing from behind after trailing Tennessee State 14-10 as the midway point of the first set arrived. A kill from Kamryn Gibadlo stopped the run and started what led to a 7-1 run for the Utes. Leading 17-15, Utah gave up a kill to the Tigers to cut the lead to one point, but Utah countered with three consecutive points to take a 20-16 advantage and force a timeout.
Out of the break, the two teams went point for point until another kill from Gibadlo followed by a Tiger attack error gave Utah the 25-20 win in the opening set. Five Utes recorded at least two kills with Gibadlo leading the way after tallying four kills on .500 hitting.
In the second set, Utah jumped out to an early 6-2 lead, but later saw Tennessee State cut the gap to just 10-9 in Utah’s favor. Later leading 14-13, Utah used a 8-1 run to push ahead 22-14. Despite the Tigers scoring five of the next six points, Utah recorded kills from Kamry Bailey and Amelia Van Der Werff to end the set 25-19. Bailey totaled seven kills in the second set to lead the offense behind Viktoria Wahlgren’s 13 assists in the frame.
After going back and forth…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at University of Utah Athletics…