Volleyball Heads to Tempe to Take on Arizona State
Match 5-6: No. 8 Utah (4-0) at Arizona State (1-3)
Friday, February 5 and Sunday, February 7 | 3 p.m. MT and 1 p.m. MT
Tempe, Arizona | Wells Fargo Arena
FIRST SERVE
Utah is heading to Tempe, Arizona to take on Arizona State this weekend.
The first match is Friday, February 5 at 3 p.m. with the second match being on Sunday, February 7 is at 1 p.m.
Last season, the Utes beat Arizona State in both matches with the one in Tempe, Arizona being a sweep and then in five sets when they played in Salt Lake City.
4-0 START
The 4-0 start for Utah is the best start to Pac-12 play the team has had since joining the conference in 2011. The Utes have been dominant so far in sweeping three of the four matches against Arizona and Cal.
In 2017, Utah was 8-1 in Pac-12 play, but dropped their third match of the conference season in that stretch.
Utah will look to push its best start further as they travel to Tempe, Arizona this weekend and take on 1-3 Arizona State.
EFFICIENT OFFENSE
Utah has hit .320 as a team so far this season and only made 53 errors on 406 swings.
Each Sunday match so far, Utah has ramped up the efficiency as they hit .368 against Arizona and .391 against Cal.
In those Sunday matches, the team has only made 17 errors on 174 swings.
STRONG DEFENSE
To go along with the efficient offense, Utah has held their opponents to an .072 hitting percentage. The highest a team has hit this season is .106 Arizona had in the second match of the weekend.
In the other matches, Arizona hit .029 and Cal hit .082 and .075.
UTES MATCH HIGHEST RANKING EVER
Utah came in ranked 8th in the latest AVCA rankings for the second week in a row once again matching a program high. The Utes have been ranked eighth twice before with the last time coming in 2002.
They were initially ranked 10th in the preseason rankings.
PRESEASON FAVORITES
The Pac-12 Conference announced their preseason coaches poll and with nine first place votes, Utah volleyball has been picked to win the league this season.
Utah totaled 119 points for their highest preseason polling since joining the Conference in 2011 (previous high was fourth in 2017).
The Utes are coming off a season in 2019 where they finished 24-10 overall and 14-6 in the Pac-12 sitting in a tie for third. They advanced to the Sweet 16 where they pushed eventual National Champion Stanford to a fifth set before the Cardinal prevailed.
UP NEXT
Utah will be back home for four straight matches. They will take on USC with the first match coming on Friday, February 12 at 3 p.m. on Pac-12 Network.