(St. George, Utah – Nov. 2, 2023) - The Utah Tech volleyball team fell in four sets to UTRGV on Senior Night on Thursday night at Burns Arena.

Honoring the Trailblazers trio of seniors in Kate Hardy, Taela Laufiso & Emma Ricks prior to the match, Utah Tech (8-15, 4-9 WAC) dropped the opening set, 21-25 rallying back to win the second set, 25-22 before UTRGV (15-11, 9-4 WAC) took the third and fourth sets, 25-13, 25-20.

Led by the seventh double-double of the season by Kennedi Knudsen, the sophomore outside hitter led the Trailblazers with 12 kills and added 16 digs, a service ace and an assist.

Hardy added 10 kills while Ricks added a team-best 19 digs and Laufiso had a team-leading 23 assists.

With the Vaqueros leading the opening set, 17-15, the Trailblazers used a 4-0 run with three straight kills and an attack error to take a 19-17 lead. It was all UTRGV from there closing out the set on an 8-2 run for a 25-21 win.

UTRGV was able to jump out to an 11-10 lead in the second set, but a 6-2 run for the Blazers put Utah Tech ahead 16-13 after a kill by Knudsen. A kill by Adee Butler kept the Blazers ahead by two at 20-18 and after the Vaqueros cut UT's lead down to one at 22-21, the Trailblazers secured three of the final four points of the set finished off with a kill by Knudsen.

The third set belonged to UTRGV from the outset getting out to a 5-0 lead and went on to win the set by 12 at 25-13.

Looking to even up the sets at two apiece in the fourth set, the Blazers got out to a 14-14 tie after a kill by Knudsen, but a 7-1 run for UTRGV pushed the Vaqueros up 21-15. Three straight points for UT got the Trailblazers back within three at 23-20, but the final two points of the set went to UTRGV for the win.

Utah Tech heads on the road for its final three matches of the regular season starting Monday at Southern Utah (5-17, 1-11 WAC) at 6:30 p.m.