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OREM — Utah Valley women's volleyball finished the regular season with a 3-2 win over Utah Tech after an highly-contested five-set battle in Orem Saturday.
What better way to end the regular season than to go all out in a five-set match?
Hitting .438, Utah Valley took the first set 25-20 with 17 kills. Caleigh Vagana officially closed out the set with her third kill of the day.
Utah Tech came back swinging in the second set, going on an 8-0 scoring run and kept the lead for the rest of the set. The Trailblazers ended the set after a successful block from Kennedi Knudsen and Kate Hardy for a score of 25-22 for Utah Tech.
The third set appeared to be a runaway show for the Wolverines as they went up on Utah Tech 20-13; however, after a timeout, the Trailblazers attempted to close that gap with a 6-0 scoring run. Those efforts kept the score tight, but Utah Valley secured the set 25-22 with a kill by Tori Ellis followed quickly by a kill from Avery Shewell.
Down 2-1, Utah Tech knew they needed to take the fourth set in order to continue on. With a tied 11-11 score, the Trailblazers took the lead after a kill by Hardy, and then they used that momentum for a 7-0 run.
Utah Valley attempted to come back, but their efforts fell short and Utah Tech ran away with the set 25-15. Knudsen lead the Trailblazers in kills with an impressive 25 while also hitting .400 overall.
The fate of the match came down to a fifth-set battle between the two teams, and started out neck-and-neck, which only increased the anticipation. Two attack errors from Utah Tech gave Utah Valley just enough of a lead to take pushed through to the end for a 15-11 win.
Utah Valley will begin WAC Tournament play next week in Orem.
