KINGSVILLE, Texas – Utah Beach Volleyball earned another split of its matches in Texas on Saturday after narrowly falling 3-2 to Corban University before wrapping up the day’s play with a sweep over Texas A&M-Kingsville. Utah finished the season-opening weekend 2-2, highlighted by an undefeated weekend for Savannah Cottam and Sonja Wessel at the fifth position.
Utah 2, Corban 3
Utah opened Saturday’s competition against Corban where the Utes picked up three first sets to start the day. Sydney Jacinto and Kylie Pitzak dominated their first set 21-11, while the duo grinded out a 22-20 win in the second set on court four to earn Utah’s first dual point. Savannah Cottam and Sonja Wessel continued their strong weekend on court five with a 22-20, 21-18 win to push Utah ahead 2-0 in the match.
Corban earned its first point of the match with a tight 21-18, 21-19 win on court two over Bella Vezzani and Grace Andrews. Leading 2-1, the remaining courts were headed to third sets to decide the dual winner. After winning the first set, Amaya Messier and Katie McAlister narrowly fell 21-18 to go to the third. The top duo for the Utes were tied 7-7, but Corban’s top pair managed to pull out the 15-11 victory to tie the match 2-2. On court three, Marissa Koch and Abby Karich used a dominant 21-9 victory in the second set to go to a third set as well, but after trailing 12-10 late in the set, the pair couldn’t overcome the deficit and dropped the set 15-12.
Utah 5, TAMUK 0
Utah looked to bounce back in the afternoon against host Texas A&M-Kingsville and did just that. Three of the five courts went to a third set in the competitive match, but it was Messier and McAlister who picked up the first dual point with a 21-15, 21-11 victory. The next straight-set victory came from Karich and Koch on court three after pulling out an incredible 33-31 win in the first set before taking the match with a 21-14 win in the second set.
Court four went to a third set after Pitzak and Jacinto couldn’t keep the momentum going after winning the first set, while courts two and five did the opposite by forcing a third set after dropping their opening sets. Cottam and Wessel went on to clinch the match for Utah on court five with a 15-8 victory in the third set, before Pitzak and Jacinto followed with another point after their 15-11 win in the final…
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