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No. 19 Utah Volleyball Hits The Road, Travels To No. 17 Oregon and Oregon State

Oct 26, 2021

Match 20: #19 Utah (13-6, 6-4 Pac-12) at #17 Oregon (15-5, 6-4 Pac-12)
Friday, Oct. 29 | 7 p.m. MT
Eugene, Ore. | Matthew Knight Arena
TV: Pac-12 Networks
Live Stats: Statbroadcast

Match 21: #19 Utah (13-6, 6-4 Pac-12) vs. Oregon State (3-17, 1-9 Pac-12)
Sunday, Oct. 31 | 12 p.m. MT
Corvallis, Ore. | Gill Coliseum
Stream: Oregon State Live Stream
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
 
MATCH WEEK
No. 19 Utah volleyball begins the second half of conference play this weekend, traveling to Oregon for a pair of matches. Utah and the No. 17-ranked Oregon Ducks will square off Friday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. MT inside Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore. The top-20 matchup between the Utes and Ducks will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.
 
Utah will face Oregon State for a Halloween matinee match on Sunday, Oct. 31, taking on the Beavers at 12 p.m. MT. The match will be live streamed.
 
QUICK HITS
• Utah is ranked No. 19 in the AVCA Coaches Poll this week. It is the 38th-straight week Utah has been ranked, dating back to Sept. 2, 2019. The Utes are one of six Pac-12 teams in the top-25.
• Utah is No. 21 in the nation this week in the RPI rankings.
• Utah is 8-1 in the Huntsman Center this season after going 8-0 at home last year. Including this season's home record, Utah has posted a 48-13 (.787) record at the Huntsman Center since 2017.
• Utah has recorded four top-25 wins this season, which includes the two highest ranked wins on the road all-time (No. 3 Nebraska, No. 6 Washington).
 
BY THE NUMBERS
• Utah is 9-0 this season when hitting above .250 as a team, while the Utes are 10-0 when holding their opponent to .200 or below.
• Utah is 12-0 this season when leading in attack percentage. Utah is also 11-2 in matches when leading in digs, 10-1 when leading in blocks and 10-1 when leading in kills.
• Dani Drews has hit double-digit kills in 17 matches, while Robinson has posted 12 matches of 10 or more kills.
• Vanessa Ramirez has hit double-digit digs in 16-of-19 matches this season and has posted two matches of 20 digs or more.
• Stef Jankiewicz has posted a team-high seven double-doubles this season. Drews has tallied six double-doubles, Madelyn Robinson has six and Ramirez has two on the season.
 
IN THE RANKINGS
• Utah is second in the Pac-12 in kills per set (13.72) and No. 35 in the nation.
• Utah is fourth in the Pac-12 in blocks per set (2.53) and No. 37 in the nation
• Utah also ranks third in the Pac-12 in aces per set (1.51), third in assists per set (12.31), third in digs per set (14.41), and fourth in opponent hitting percentage (.198).
• Dani Drews leads the Pac-12 and is No. 9 in the nation in kills per set (4.82). She is also No. 1 in the Pac-12 and No. 7 in the nation in points per set (5.39).
• Allie Olsen is fifth in the Pac-12 in blocks per set (1.19), while Kennedi Evans ranks seventh in the conference (1.11). Stef Jankiewicz is sixth in the Pac-12 in assists per set (9.63) and seventh in aces per set (0.32).
 
SCOUTING OREGON
Oregon began conference play winning five of six matches with its only loss coming to Utah in Salt Lake City in the midst of the run. Since the Ducks sat at 5-1 in Pac-12 play, they have since dropped three of four contests, but are coming off a five-set victory over USC. Notable wins for the Ducks have come over No. 18 Penn State in a sweep and No. 17 Stanford in five sets – both of which came in Eugene. Oregon is No. 16 in the nation in blocks per set (2.67) and second in the Pac-12, while it leads the conference in digs per set (16.03) and opponent hitting percentage (0.163). In the first matchup between the teams, Utah took the victory in four sets after Drews, Robinson and Jankiewicz each posted double-doubles. Oregon's Taylor Borup and Brooke Nunviller led the team in kills as they have done all season, and libero Georgia Murphy, who is third in the Pac-12 in digs per set, posted 18 digs.
 
SCOUTING OREGON STATE
Oregon State earned its sole conference win over California a few weeks ago, but has struggled to find much success since. The Beavers are currently on a four-match slide after the win over Cal had previously snapped a seven-match losing streak. The Beavers are led by standout libero Grace Massey, who ranks fourth in the Pac-12 in digs per set (4.29). Offensively, Oregon State's Maddie Goings and Kateryna Tkachenko average 3.32 and 3.27 kills per set, respectively, to lead the team. Utah took the first meeting over Oregon State, sweeping the Beavs in Salt Lake City. Drews and Robinson hit double-figures in kills in the match, while Utah's defense limited Oregon State to just a 0.062 hitting percentage.

SETTING WITH STEF
Starting setter Stef Jankiewicz averaged 12 assists per set this past weekend and led Utah to its second-best hitting percentage of the season after hitting .371 as a unit in the sweep over Arizona. Jankiewicz posted 37 assists in the sweep, which ties her season-high assist count in a three set match. She also posted 47 assists against Arizona State, which was the most assists in a four set match she has recorded this season. Jankiewicz is sixth in the Pac-12 in assists per set (9.63) and since the start of conference, she has averaged 10.03 assists per set, which ranks fifth.
 
IN THE BACK
Vanessa Ramirez led Utah defensively in both matches over the weekend where she averaged 4.57 digs per set. Against Arizona State, the sophomore libero tallied 20 digs which marked the second 20 dig match of the season for the sophomore from Pasadena, Calif. She then backed up the performance with 12 digs in the sweep over Arizona to mark her 16th double-digit dig effort in 19 matches this season. She has led the team in digs in 14 of the 19 matches.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Utah split the weekend against the pair of Arizona schools, falling against Arizona State in four and then earning a sweep over Arizona on Sunday. The Utes couldn't find enough consistency in the match against the Sun Devils and played from behind most of the night. Each set was played extremely tight, but Utah struggled to find a way to get over the hump late in the set. Standouts against the Sun Devils for Utah were Vanessa Ramirez, who posted 20 digs, and Dani Drews, who earned a double-double with 23 kills and 16 digs.
 
Utah bounced back against Arizona and earned the sweep over the Wildcats after posting the team's second-best hitting percentage of the season. Stef Jankiewicz posted 37 assists in the sweep to lead the offense as all five of her targets earned at least six kills in the match. Behind double-digit kills from Drews and Zoe Weatherington, Amelia Van Der Werff totaled eight kills on nine swings for a .889 hitting percentage.
 
UP NEXT
The Utes return to the Huntsman Center in two weeks to host UCLA and USC. Utah and UCLA will open the weekend's play on Friday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. MT in Salt Lake City. The Utes and Trojans will square off on Sunday, Nov. 7 at 12 p.m. MT. Both matches will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.