Utah Tech volleyball took down the Seattle U Redhawks Saturday afternoon in four sets.
How it happened: The two teams started off neck-and-neck in the first set with a score of 6-6. Seattle U pushed to take a three point lead but Utah Tech rallied back with an 8-2 run to take a 17-15 lead. The Trailblazers ended the first set with four consecutive points.
Taela Laufiso started it with a crisp setter dump. A Seattle U error was next before Laufiso dropped a service ace. To end the first set with a score of 25-18, Sunny Brown slammed down a kill.
Utah Tech started the second set off with an 8-4 lead that they later pushed to a 17-12 lead before the Redhawks went on a 7-0 run to take a 19-17 lead. The Trailblazers went on to tie the set back up at 21-21. Whittnee Nihipali finished the set out for UT with a kill and then a solo block to give the Trailblazers the 25-22 win.
The Trailblazers had a 2-0 lead overall in the match.
The third set was a point-for-point battle with the score being tied or within one until things were tied up at 11-11. Seattle U was the team to make the surge as they pushed out to an 18-13 lead over UT. The Trailblazers pushed but couldn't catch up and Seattle U came away with the 25-19 third set win.
Utah Tech wasted no time getting a jump on Seattle U in the third set thanks to a 12-4 lead. Seattle U called a timeout to hopefully break up some of the Trailblazers momentum but Utah Tech never waivered. The fourth set ended with a big block by Kate Hardy and Laufiso to bring it to set point. Then to end the match Hardy was sharp with a big kill to put the fourth set score at 25-13.
Killin' It: Utah Tech was led by Nihipali who had 15 kills from 48 attacks. Hardy and
Chayse Daugherty each had nine kills to add.
In total, Utah Tech had 53 kills with 25 errors from 170 attacks for a .165 percentage.
Taela Laufiso led the Trailblazers with 32 assists on the afternoon for the team high.
Diggin' it: Utah Tech had five Trailblazers with double figures in digs.
Mykenna Nelson led with 31 digs on the night. Daugherty, Laufiso and Nihipali each had 14 digs while
Emma Ricks added 13. In total, UT had 95 total digs.
Laufiso and Nihipali each had double doubles. Nihipali's was 15kills and 14 digs and Laufiso's came from her 32 assists and 14 digs.
Notes to know: Utah Tech is now 10-8 overall on the season and 4-5 in WAC action.
Next Up: The Trailblazers will host four consecutive games starting with a revenge match up against in-state rival Southern Utah Oct. 29.
