Women's Volleyball | 9/30/2025 4:00:00 PM

Match #14 - WAC HOME OPENER
Who | Utah Tech (10-3, 1-0 WAC) vs. California Baptist (5-9, 1-1 WAC)
When | Thursday, Oct. 2 – 6 p.m.
Where | Burns Arena - St. George, Utah
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X) + #UtahTechBlazers

Match #15 - PINK OUT
Who | Utah Tech (10-3, 1-0 WAC) vs. Utah Valley (6-8, 2-0 WAC)
When | Saturday, Oct. 4 – 12 p.m.
Where | Burns Arena - St. George, Utah
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X) + #UtahTechBlazers

OPENING SERVE
The Trailblazers return home for the first time in nearly a month this week hosting California Baptist on Thursday night for their WAC home opener and take on Utah Valley on Saturday afternoon for a Pink Out.

LOOK BACK AT LAST WEEK
The Trailblazers opened WAC play last week at Southern Utah sweeping the Thunderbirds in Cedar City.

Winning its WAC opener for a second straight season, the Trailblazers led SUU in kills (38-23), blocks (9-3), digs (46-36), assists (34-20) and hitting percentage (.286- -.048) as it was the first time in nearly a calendar year Utah Tech has held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage.

Completing its seventh sweep of the season, the Trailblazers were led by 12 kills from Kennedi Knudsen and added a season-high 10 kills from Tessa Treanor.

Mya Laufiso tacked on a team-best 15 digs, setter Marley Roe chipped in 13 assists and Casidy Fried led the way defensively with four blocks.

GLANCE AT THE CALIFORNIA BAPTIST LANCERS
California Baptist has started the season with a 5-9 mark posting a 1-1 start to WAC action with a four-set win over Abilene Christian & a four-set loss to Tarleton State.

The Lancers are 0-3 on the road with losses to CSUN (1-3), Santa Clara (1-3) and Cal Poly (0-3), but do have wins on the season against Idaho State (3-2), Portland State (3-0), Fullerton (3-1) and New Mexico (3-1).

CBU, who went 8-22 last season, finished fifth in the WAC with a 9-7 mark and advanced to the WAC Tournament semifinals falling in five sets to eventual champion UT Arlington.

The Lancers rank third in the WAC in aces per set (1.61) and total service aces (87) and are fourth in blocks per set (2.04) and total attacks (1,729).

Individually, setter Maddie Brown is third in the conference in assists per set (7.83) and assists (415).

Sophomore outside hitter Emery DeJong is fourth in kills per set (3.38) and sixth in kills (176).

SERIES HISTORY VS. CALIFORNIA BAPTIST
The Trailblazers and Lancers have met 25 times in series history with California Baptist leading 17-8.

The Lancers swept the Trailblazers in the WAC Tournament last season taking sets, 25-23, 25-15, 25-20 while splitting regular season action with each winning at home.

The Trailblazers are 4-2 at home against the Lancers with a pair of wins in the spring of 2021 (3-1, 3-0), fall of 2021 (3-1) and 2024 (3-0).

GLANCE AT THE UTAH VALLEY WOLVERINES
Utah Valley is 6-8 on the season and 2-0 in WAC action opening conference play last week with sweeps over Abilene Christian and Tarleton State.

The Wolverines are 1-3 on the road with its lone win coming at Weber State (3-1) and also have victories this season against Montana (3-2), San Jose State (3-0) and St. John's (3-0).

UVU is coming off a 21-11 record in 2024 and finished third in the regular season making its way to the NIVC defeating Washington State before falling to Wyoming.

The Wolverines lead the WAC and nation in blocks (178.0) and are third in the nation in blocks per set (3.30). UVU is also second in the WAC in assists (599) and kills (662).

Senior middle blocker Bella Wooden tops the country in blocks (102) and is second in blocks per set (1.89).

Avery Page is second in the WAC in kills per set (3.48) and third in kills (188).

SERIES HISTORY VS. CALIFORNIA BAPTIST
The Trailblazers trail the all-time series against Utah Valley, 9-2. UT is 1-5 at home against the Wolverines winning a five-set thriller last season as Knudsen set the single match kill record with 34 in the victory.

The Blazers earned their first-ever win over UVU in their first contest last season sweeping the Wolverines in Orem. 

UT held the Wolverines to .008 hitting percentage in the match and were led by Knudsen with 12 kills.

TRAILBLAZERS IN WAC HOME OPENERS
The Trailblazers are 3-2 in WAC home openers with wins over UT Rio Grande Valley in 2020 (3-0), Grand Canyon in 2021 (3-0) and Abilene Christian last season. 

The two setbacks came against Utah Valley in 2022 (0-3) and California Baptist (0-3) in 2023. 

WINS PILING UP
Entering action on Tuesday (Sept. 30), 63 Division I teams have posted 10 or more wins this season and the Trailblazers lead the WAC in victories.

WHERE UTAH TECH RANKS IN THE WAC IN 2025
As a team, the Trailblazers lead the WAC in assists per set (12.26), hitting percentage (.228), kills per set (13.40), digs per set (14.38) & attacks per set (35.62) while ranking second in blocks per set (2.81 - 14th nationally), total blocks (132.0 - 22nd nationally) and opponent hitting percentage (.154 - 15th nationally).

In addition to Knudsen's top marks in the WAC, Taylor Snow ranks second in the WAC in blocks per set (1.40) & third in blocks (63 - 35th nationally) while Casidy Fried is third in blocks per set (1.26) & fifth in blocks (59).

Laufiso ranks fourth in the WAC in digs per set (3.91) and total digs (184).

HOME COOKING
The Trailblazers is off to its first 3-0 start at home since the spring of 2021 when they started 4-0. 

With a pair of wins this weekend, UT will be off to its second-ever 5-0 start at home joining 2014.

NOT ONE, NOT TWO, NOT THREE, BUT FOUR TIMES!
Seeing her streak of four straight Jersey Mike's A Sub Above WAC Player of the Week come to an end this week, Knudsen has put together a strong start to the season.

Individually, Knudsen leads the WAC in kills (226 - 15th nationally), total attacks (586 - 20th nationally), points (246.0 - 18th nationally), kills per set (4.81 - 7th nationally), attacks per set (12.47 - 3rd nationally) and points per set (5.23 - 15th nationally).

In addition, Knudsen was named the MVP of the Utah Tech Tournament and to the All-Tournament Team at the Boise State Invitational.

KNUDSEN TOPS RECORD CHARTS
Knudsen became the all-time career leader in kills on Sept. 19 against Northern Colorado passing Alex Shearer (850, 2008-11) for the most kills in program history in the NCAA era.

With 940 career kills in 66 matches as a Trailblazer, Knudsen has averaged 3.78 kills per set and racked up 2,539 total attacks, marks both ranking second in program history.

HITTING 1K
Junior setter Marley Roe became the eight Trailblazer in the NCAA era to hit the 1,000-career assist mark in a sweep over San Francisco on Sept. 13.

She has recorded 1,104 career assists in 63 career matches and currently ranks eighth in program history entering the week only 13 assists shy of seventh place and 26 assists away of moving into sixth place.

STELLAR START
Off to a 10-3 start to the season, the Trailblazers have matched the 2009 team for the second-best start through 13 matches in the NCAA era.

Only the 2018 team got off to a better start after 13 matches going 11-2 on their way to a 22-6 overall record, tied for their most wins in a season in the NCAA era along with 2014.

UP NEXT
The Trailblazers head out on the road next week for a pair of matches in Texas traveling to Tarleton State (7-7, 1-1 WAC) on Oct. 9 and Abilene Christian (6-11, 0-2 WAC) on Oct. 11.