Volleyball to Take on Pitt or LIU in Second Round of NCAA Tournament

No. 14 Utah (13-4) vs. Pittsburgh/LIU
Thursday, April 15 | 8:30 p.m. MT
Omaha, Nebraska
 
FIRST SERVE
The 14 seed Utah earned its third national seed in program history and will play the winner of Pittsburgh and Long Island in the first round. The Utes and the first-round winner will play on Thursday, April 15 at 9:30 p.m. CT.
 
This is the program's 17th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and all of them have been under head coach Beth Launiere.
 
The Utes matchup will be on ESPN3.
 
GOAT STATUS
Dani Drews has continued to rack up the accolades after having a great season.
 
She became the first Utah player to be named the Pacific South Region Player of the Year two times and the Pac-12 Player of the Year.
 
Drews has had a dominant season leading Utah in kills in every single match and leading the Pac-12 in kills per set with 5.14. She was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week twice, while she totaled 324 kills in 17 matches. Out of the 17 matches, Drews had seven matches with at least 20 kills and two with 30 kills.
 
Last season, Drews set a school record and was second in the NCAA with 643 kills. She is third in career kills across the NCAA.
 
ALL-REGION
Along with Drews being on the team, Saige Ka'aha'aina-Torres and Kenzie Koerber both earned Pacific South All-Region honors.
 
Ka'aha'aina-Torres had one of the best seasons as a setter in the Pac-12, leading the conference in assists per set at 10.52. She was the only setter in the top 10 for digs per set averaging 3.16. She led Utah with 199 digs on the season and had a team high this season of 23 digs against Colorado. It is her second time earning All-Region honors and first time landing on the All-Region team. This is the second time she has been on the All-Region Team.
 
Koerber finished the regular season with 153 kills hitting .267. She led the team with 26 service aces and led the Pac-12 averaging .47 service aces per set. Koerber is strong on defense as well finishing third on the team with 42.0 blocks and fourth in digs with 159. This is the second time Koerber has been named to the All-Region team.
 
ALL-PAC-12
Utah had two voted on the All-Pac-12 team in Drews and Koerber.
 
The outside hitter and opposite led Utah all season long and got rewarded by the Pac-12 coaches.
 
Utah had two earn honorable mention as well. in Ka'aha'aina-Torres and Madelyn Robinson. It's the second season in a row that Ka'aha'aina-Torres has earned honorable mention honors and first for Robinson.
 
ROBINSON STEPS IN FOR WEATHERINGTON
When Zoe Weatherington went down with an injury, Robinson stepped up in her absence.
 
To end the season, she had double-digit kills in five of the last seven matches. She finished with the third most kills on the team hitting .265 on the year.

She was rewarded with the strong season by being named All-Pac-12 honorable mention.