(St. George, Utah - Oct. 21, 2024) - The Trailblazer volleyball team downed Southern Utah in four sets on Monday night at Burns Arena.

Utah Tech (11-7, 5-3 WAC) took the opening set in dominant fashion, 25-15 before Southern Utah (8-11, 4-4 WAC) fought back to win set two, 25-22.

The Trailblazers closed out the match with wins in the third and fourth sets, 25-14 & 25-21.

A pair of Blazers tallied double-doubles with Kennedi Knudsen tallying a team-high 15 kills and 12 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Tessa Treanor notched her fifth double-double of the season totaling 12 kills and 10 digs.

Sophomore libero Mya Laufiso matched her career high with four service aces while Casidy Fried totaled seven blocks, including one solo block.

With the Thunderbirds leading the opening set, 11-8, the Blazers ripped off an 8-0 run to jump ahead 16-11 after a kill by Lusia Langi. After a SUU point, a 6-0 run for UT extended their lead to double digits at 10 going on to win the set by that margin.

A back-and forth second set saw ties at 16, 17, 18, 19 and 22 before the Thunderbirds used a kill, service ace and attack error to take the set by three.

After SUU got out a 4-0 start to the third set, the Trailblazers battled back with an 11-1 run to take a 11-5 lead after a solo block by Fried. Four straight points for the Thunderbirds cut UT's lead down to four at 17-13, but an 8-1 for the Blazers closed out an 11-point set win.

A hard-fought fourth set saw the Blazers build a four point lead at 16-12 after a kill by Howard. Alternating points over the next 14 points, the Blazers led 23-19 as the two teams split the final four points with a kill by Treanor sealing the win.

Utah Tech led the Thunderbirds in blocks (12.0-2.0), service aces (8-7) and digs (57-52) while the pair split in kills (46-46).

The Trailblazers head back to Texas this week facing Abilene Christian (8-11, 3-5 WAC) on Thursday and Tarleton State (6-15, 1-7 WAC) on Saturday.