USC Women's Volleyball Falls to No. 16 Utah on the Road

SALT LAKE CITY – The USC women's volleyball team (10-13, 6-8 Pac-12) was defeated in four sets (25-18, 20-25, 29-27, 25-23) by No. 16-ranked Utah (16-7, 9-5) at Jon M. Huntsman Center on Sunday, Nov. 7. 
 
KEY PLAYERS

• Jr. OPP Emilia Weske led USC with 18 kills (5e, 39att) and hit .333 to go with two blocks and three digs.
• Jr. OH Kalen Owes tallied 14 kills (8e, 35att) and had seven digs and two blocks (one solo).
• Gr. OH Brooke Botkin had 10 kills (5e, 36att), eight digs, and one block.
• Gr. MB Sabrina Smith added 10 kills (1e) on 14 swings to hit .643 and racked up five blocks (three solo) and four digs.
• Gr. MB Candice Denny had eight kills (2e, 17att) with a .353 hitting rate and two blocks.
• Fr. S Mia Tuaniga registered 47 assists to go with eight digs, one block, and had USC's lone service ace.
• Gr. LIB Shannon Scully led the Women of Troy with 20 digs and had three assists.
• For Utah, Dani Drews led the way with a double-double on 22 kills and 14 digs. Zoe Weatherington had 13 kills and hit .320 to go with five blocks and four digs. Madelyn Robinson also added 12 kills with seven digs, four blocks, and a service ace. Vanessa Ramirez paced the Ute defense with 18 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Trojans trailed by as many as eight points in the first set but ended up saving four set points before the Utes closed out a 25-18 win. Owes led USC with four kills, but Utah had 18 kills without an error for a .514 hitting percentage.
• In quite the reversal, the Women of Troy led by as many as seven points in the second and hit .517 with 17 kills on 29 swings (2e). USC held off a late Utah comeback bid to get the 25-20 win and evened the match. Weske collected five of her kills and Denny had four in the frame to power the Trojan offense.
• USC trailed by six several times in the third set, but patiently stayed with the Utes and flipped the board to score set point at 24-23. Weske had six kills and the Trojans out-dug the Utes, 18-13, but Utah forced the set into extra points and closed the books on a 29-27 win with seven kills from Drews alone.
• The score was tied six times and the lead changed twice in the fourth, but USC had its chances when it forced ties at 22 and 23-all. Utah had a response and completed a 25-23 win to take the match. The Trojans had a 15-10 edge in kills and had a 4-3 lead in blocks in the final set, but 10 hitting errors did USC in. 

UP NEXT

• The Trojans remain away from home for their final two regular-season road matches next weekend. USC will head north to take on Oregon on Friday (Nov. 12) in Eugene, Ore., and then faces Oregon State on Sunday (Nov. 14) in Corvallis. Both matches will be shown on the Pac-12 Networks' Insider stream channel.

MATCH NOTES

• USC fell to 18-10 all-time against Utah and to 8-5 when they face the Utes in Salt Lake City.
• The Utes have won seven straight matches against the Trojans since 2018. It is the second-longest active opponent win streak over the Women of Troy to Stanford's eight-match streak.
• USC falls to 29-7 all-time in the state of Utah with four straight losses in the Beehive State. The Trojans go to 12-5 overall in matches played in Salt Lake City.
• The Trojans lost a fifth consecutive match for the first time since a five-match losing streak between Nov. 2-14 of 1990.
• Fr. MB Tyrah Ariail started the match but left late in the first set due to a leg injury and did not return to action.

For more information on the USC women's volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/WVB. Fans of the Women of Troy can follow @USCWomensVolley on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.