(St. George, Utah - Oct. 12, 2024) - The Trailblazer volleyball team got back on the winning track on Saturday afternoon sweeping California Baptist at Burns Arena.
Utah Tech (10-6, 4-2 WAC) took sets over California Baptist (1-17, 1-5 WAC), 25-23, 25-21, 25-15 as the Trailblazers have now surpassed their win total from 2023.
The Trailblazers were led in kills by the duo of
Kennedi Knudsen and
Tessa Treanor, who each finished with eight.
Knudsen added 11 digs to go along with three block assists while
Marley Roe led the Blazers in assists (12) and service aces (3).
The Trailblazers jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the opening set after an ace by Roe. A 10-2 run for CBU put the Lancers in front, 16-12 before the Blazers ripped off a 5-0 run to push ahead by one.
With ties at 17 through 21, back-to-back points for the Trailblazers pushed UT ahead by a pair and a kill by Knudsen closed out the two-point set win.
The second set saw a back-and-forth start with the Blazers leading narrowly, 11-10, before UT reeled off a 5-1 run to go up 16-11.
The Lancers responded with an 8-2 run of their own to push ahead, 19-18 after a kill. Continuing to respond, the Blazers came back with four straight points nabbing a trio of kills and an ace by Treanor to take a 22-19 lead.
A pair of points for the Lancers got CBU within one, but the final three points of the set went to the Blazers for the 2-0 set lead.
The third and final set saw the Trailblazers dominate, holding CBU to a negative hitting percentage, and used a 7-0 run midway through the set to extend a 9-8 lead to 16-8 after a kill by Knudsen. The Lancers were only able to get within five the rest of the set as a block by
Casidy Fried completed the sweep for the Blazers.
Utah Tech led the Lancers in hitting percentage (.181-.089) and blocks (11-6) while CBU held the advantage in kills (37-33), digs (52-48) and assists (34-28).
The Trailblazers travel to WAC leader UT Arlington (16-2, 6-0 WAC) next Saturday before returning home to host Southern Utah (8-8, 4-1 WAC) on Oct. 21.
