CHICAGO – Utah Volleyball showed extreme resiliency and fight as they battled the Loyola Chicago Ramblers in the first road contest of their 2024 campaign, coming out with a 3-0 (29-27, 25-20, 25-20) sweep.
Utah’s fifth-year senior, Vanessa Ramirez, eclipsed the 1,500 career digs mark, finishing with eight digs against the Ramblers. Ramirez sits at fourth in program history with 1,504 total digs, looking to climb the Utah record book and move into third-place, passing Connie Dangerfield (1,571).
The Utes found themselves down early, as Loyola took a 4-0 lead before a kill from Lauren Jardine put Utah on the board. Utah was tested early, as the Ramblers won the race to 15, going on an eight-point run and taking a 16-9 advantage. Utah never relented, keeping the pressure on and bringing the set back to within a point, trailing 22-21. The Utes fought off back-to-back set points by the Loyola, coming up with a pair of big blocks from Allie Olsen, with Jardine assisting one and Kamry Bailey getting in on the other, bringing the score to 24-24. The two sides exchanged points extending the set, before back-to-back kills from Gibadlo and Jardine gave the Utes the momentum and the serve, leading to the final Loyola error and the Utah set win, 29-27.
The second set was a back-and-forth battle with each side searching for a significant advantage, with 12 ties flashing on the scoreboard. The Ramblers won the race to 15 for the…
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