No. 12 Utah Volleyball Gets Senior Day Sweep Against Washington State

SALT LAKE CITY – The No. 12 University of Utah Volleyball team got the Senior Day sweep against the Washington State Cougars today, winning 3-0 to improve to 13-4 in its final home game of the season.

The Utes, who lead the Pac-12 in hitting percentage allowed, held the Cougars to just .139 hirring percentage in today's match while hitting while hitting .261 themselves with 48 kills and 119 total attacks. Utah was led in kills by senior Dani Drews with 16 while senior Kenzie Koerber recorded 15.

It was Drews' 46th straight game with double-digit kills while also notching eight digs. Koerber and junior Megan Yett tied for the team-lead in digs with nine each with junior Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres putting up a team-high 40 assists.

The Utes and the Cougars went toe-to-toe in the first half of the first set with Washington State tying it up at 10-10, but a 5-0 scoring run by the Utes late in the set would give them a 22-15 lead with three points to play. Utah was able to close out the first set with back-to-back kills from redshirt junior Phoebe Grace and Koerber to win 25-18.

The second set was a grind with Washington State taking an early 7-5 lead before two straight blocks from junior Madelyn Robinson and Grace would tie the game 7-7. The Utes held a four-point advantage twice in the set, including taking an 18-14 lead, but Washington State kept chipping at Utah's heels eventually tying it up 19-19.

The Utes and the Cougars would go on to battle for multiple set points, including a huge kill from Ka'aha'aina-Torres to make it 25-24, but Utah would eventually win the set 27-25 on an attack error by Washington State.  

Utah would take an early 8-3 lead in the third set which included an ace from Koerber and kills from Drews, Koerber and redshirt sophomore Kennedi Evans with the Utes controlling the set. A 6-0 run to give Utah a 17-10 lead was capped off by a kill from Robinson with the Cougars unable to overcome the deficit.

Washington State cut the Utah lead to two (23-21) late in the third set, but a kill from Drews and match point kill from Robinson would give Utah the 3-0 sweep, winning the third set 25-22.   

Utah will return to action on April 1 and April 3 when they travel to Oregon State for its final regular season games. Utah's game against the Beavers on Thursday will start at 7 p.m. MT.