(Abilene, Texas - Nov. 20, 2025) - The Trailblazers earned their first Division I postseason victory on Thursday afternoon at the WAC Tournament defeating No. 7 seed Southern Utah in four sets at Moody Coliseum.
Advancing to the semifinals of the WAC Tournament on Friday afternoon against No. 3 seed Tarleton State, Utah Tech (20-5) overcame a 22-25 opening set loss to win the next three sets, 25-8, 25-21, 25-13.
Led by a pair of 12-kill performances from the duo of
Tessa Treanor and
Nana Asiata, the Trailblazers also got a pair of double-doubles with Treanor adding 12 digs and
Marley Roe earned her ninth double-double of the season leading the team with 26 assists and chipped in 10 digs.
Mya Laufiso came two digs shy of matching her career high leading the team with 26 digs.
Casidy Fried led the way defensively with six blocks and added eight kills.
How It Happened
After getting off to a slow start dropping the opening set, 22-25, the Trailblazers quickly responded in the second set in dominating fashion.
Jumping out to a 5-4 lead, the Trailblazers went on a 12-1 run to take a commanding 17-5 lead capped by a kill by Roe.
After a service error by UT made it 18-7, the Trailblazers finished out the set on a 7-1 run capped off by blocks from Asiata and
Taylor Snow.
The third set saw an even start with the teams trading the lead back and forth.
UT led 14-13 after a kill by Asiata, but a 5-1 run for SUU pushed the Thunderbirds ahead, 18-15.
A pair of kills and a service ace by
Kaycee Bugas tied the set at 18 and after ties at 19 and 20, the Trailblazers closed the set on a 5-1 run capped by a service error by SUU to take 2-1 set lead.
A 4-0 run for the Trailblazers midway through the fourth set stretched their three-point lead to 15-8 after a service ace by Roe.
One final kill by SUU kept the Thunderbirds within five (18-13), but the final seven points of the match belonged to the Trailblazers finishing off the match with a service ace from
Tehanie Waters.
Numbers to Know
- The Trailblazers earned their fourth straight win over the Thunderbirds and move to 7-5 all-time against SUU.
- As a team, Utah Tech led in kills (48-37), service aces (9-3), blocks (13-10), digs (72-55) and hitting percentage (.231-.074).
- The 20 wins on the season are tied for the third-most in a single season only topped by 22 apiece in 2014 & 2018 and 20 in 2019.
- Utah Tech last won a postseason contest in their final season in Division II topping CSU Pueblo, 3-1 on Nov. 19, 2019 in the RMAC Tournament.
Up Next
The Trailblazers will face No. 3 seed Tarleton State (16-9) in the semifinals on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. MT on ESPN+.
