Utah Volleyball Falls in Four Sets To #8 Stanford
PALO ALTO, Calif. – Utah Volleyball fell in four sets (22-25, 15-25, 25-22, 11-25) to eighth-ranked Stanford on Friday night to open the road trip in the Bay Area. Utah posted 11 blocks in the match, marking its second-most of the season and the most it has tallied during Pac-12 play.
The Utes were led by middle hitters KJ Burgess and Allie Olsen on Friday night as the pair of Utes each chipped in eight kills. Burgess hit .583 in the match and tied a career-best seven blocks, while Olsen finished the match on .533 hitting and posted four blocks.
Utah began the match back and forth with the top-10 ranked Stanford squad until the Cardinal put together an 8-1 run, pulling ahead 19-12. A few more points pushed the lead out to 21-13 shortly after, but a 7-1 run from the Utes cut the deficit to just two points, 22-20. The runs of points would stop there for the Utes as they could only piece one point together at a time with Stanford earning enough sideouts to later win 25-22. Jardine posted six kills on eight swings to push Utah in the tight set.
The second set went back and forth to start once again with the Utes leading by a few points early on. Tied 10-10, Stanford managed to reach the media timeout ahead 15-12. Out of the break, the teams traded point for point until Stanford rattled off nine unanswered points to win 25-15.
Utah bounced back in the third set and pulled ahead 14-11 after a quick 3-1 run. The Cardinal responded with three consecutive points to tie the frame, but the Utes later pushed out back ahead 18-16. Despite the momentum trending in Utah's favor, the Utes allowed a 3-0 run to trail 19-18 and were forced to use a timeout. Out of the break, KJ Burgess posted a kill and a block to push the Utes ahead once again.
A service error from the Utes and an ace from the Cardinal pushed the home team ahead 21-20. Trailing by one point, Megan Yett tallied a kill for the sideout and Robinson added another the next play to regain the lead, 22-21. Another block from Burgess followed by a block from fellow freshman Ashley West pushed the Utes to set point (24-21), while Burgess would finish it off with a kill to win the set 25-22.
The fourth set was all Stanford as the Cardinal hit a blazing .522 in the frame, while limiting the Utes to a negative hitting percentage. Stanford quickly pulled out to a 10-3 lead and a run of seven-straight points later on would put Utah out of reach for good as Stanford collected the 25-11 win in the fourth set to take the match.
Ramirez ended the match with 11 digs, while Viktoria Wahlgren and Emily Smith posted 16 assists and 15 assists, respectively. Kamry Bailey had nine digs, while Madelyn Robinson had eight digs and seven kills. Jardine also added seven kills.
Utah closes out the road trip against California on Sunday, Nov. 6. First serve is set for 1 p.m. MT at Haas Pavilion, and the match will be aired on Pac-12 Bay Area.