(St. George, Utah - Sept. 18, 2026) - The Trailblazers got the Utah Tech Tournament started on Friday night sweeping UC Riverside in their home opener in Burns Arena.
Completing their third straight sweep and fourth overall sweep of the season, Utah Tech (6-3) topped UC Riverside (3-7) winning sets 27-25, 25-17, 25-20.
Hitting .207 as a team, the Trailblazers were led by a pair of 10-kill performances from senior
Nana Asiata & junior
Shaylee Dahle.
It was a season high in kills for Dahle who hit .909 and led the team with three blocks and added two digs & a service ace.
Setters
Marley Roe and
Tehanie Waters each added 18 assists apiece while senior
Tessa Treanor notched a season-high 16 digs.
How It Happened
Getting out to a slow start, the Highlanders raced out to a 12-8 lead in the opening set.
The Trailblazers cut UCR's lead down to a pair at 13-11 after a kill by
Cale Torgerson. The Highlanders went ahead 16-13, but a 5-2 run for UT locked up the set at 18.
Trading two points apiece to keep the set tied up at 20, UCR looked on the brink of taking the opening set claiming four of the next five point to lead 24-21 after a block.
A kill by
Annalyse Shimada got a 6-1 run for the Trailblazers ignited to storm back for the 27-25 set win as the Highlanders tied the set at 25, but a kill by Asiata and a UCR attack error completed the comeback set win.
The Trailblazers reversed course in the second set and jumped out to a 12-8 lead of their own, but the Highlanders tied up the set at 14 after a kill.
That was as close as UC Riverside could get the rest of the set as the Trailblazers ended the set on an 11-3 run, including seven kills, to jump ahead two sets to none.
Falling behind 14-13 in the third set, UT called a timeout and the Trailblazers came out of the break with back-to-back kills from Dahle & Syndey Reese.
UCR stayed within one at 20-19, but the Trailblazers closed out the match with five of the final six points of the match as a final solo block by Dahle sealed the victory.
Numbers to Know
- It was the Trailblazers second straight win in a home opener and they improve to 5-2 in home openers in the Division I era.
- It was the sixth time this season Asiata has led or shared the team lead in kills.
- Utah Tech led UCR in kills (46-31), digs (57-39), assists (41-30) & hitting percentage (.207-.126) while the Highlanders led in blocks (9-4).
- Utah Tech has won 10 straight home matches and 14 of their last 15 at home since Oct. 12, 2024.
Up Next
The Trailblazers close out the Utah Tech Tournament on Saturday morning taking on Chicago State (0-11) at 10:30 a.m. at Burns Arena.
