Utah Volleyball Drops Road Match At #21 Washington
SEATTLE – Utah Volleyball wrapped up the road trip in the Pacific Northwest on Sunday afternoon, falling to the No. 21-ranked Washington Huskies in three sets (15-25, 17-25, 22-25) at Alaska Airlines Arena. Madelyn Robinson led the team with 16 kills on .412 hitting in her 24th match of double-digit kills this season.
Utah fell behind 9-2 to start the match after Washington posted six kills and a pair of aces to open the first set. The Utes chipped away at the deficit and would later cut the lead to just 13-10 in favor of the Huskies. Washington pushed the lead back out to five points later on, and would eventually use a 4-1 run to extend the lead 20-13. Utah earned a sideout from a kill by Lauren Jardine, but the Huskies continued the hot-hitting and closed out the frame on a 5-1 run. Utah hit .379 in the opening set, but the Husky offense recorded a blazing .484 hitting percentage to minimalize the offensive efforts by the Utes.
The second set went back and forth to start as neither team led by more than two points until Washington rattled off a 3-0 run, pulling ahead 13-9. Allie Olsen ended the run with a kill, but the momentum continued to stay with the hot offense of the Huskies as four of the next five kills were recorded by Washington.
Later trailing 21-13, Utah put together a 4-1 run of its own to cut the gap, but three consecutive points from the Huskies would end the set 25-17. Washington continued rolling offensively after hitting .433 in the second set. Madelyn Robinson posted eight kills on .462 hitting in the second set to lead the Ute offense.
Utah fell into a deficit early in the third set, trailing 11-5. Utah responded with a 5-2 run to cut the lead to just three points, but a 5-0 run from the Huskies pushed the lead back out to 17-9. The Utes slowly chipped away at the lead and later used an ace from Emily Smith, followed by a block from KJ Burgess to trail just 22-19 and send the teams into a timeout called by Washington.
Out of the break, the teams each traded a point until another block from Burgess and a Husky attack error gave Utah consecutive points to trail just 24-22. Despite the late rally, Utah would drop the set and match after Washington's Claire Hoffman recorded her match-best 20th kill of the day.
Utah recorded a .333 hitting percentage in the match, but the .414 clip from Washington proved to be too much. Robinson posted a team-high 16 kills on .412 hitting, which is her third-best efficiency of the season. Burgess added five kills on .400 hitting with a match-best four blocks. Allie Olsen and Jardine each added four kills, while Grace Hammond dished out 29 assists in her first career start as a Ute. Defensively, Vanessa Ramirez led the team with 13 digs.
Utah closes out the 2022 regular season with a pair of road matches over Thanksgiving weekend. Utah opens the week's play against Arizona State on Wednesday, Nov. 23, at 2 p.m. MT. The Utes and Sun Devils will compete at Desert Financial Arena on the Pac-12 Networks in Tempe, Ariz. Then, Utah's final match of the regular season comes on the road at Colorado on Friday, Nov. 25, at 3 p.m. MT. Utah and Colorado will be televised on Pac-12 Mountain at the CU Events Center in Boulder.