Oct. 31, 2011

UVU Volleyball Notes vs. BSU & USU

OREM, Utah -- The Utah Valley women's volleyball team, who is currently tied atop the Great West Conference, will step out of conference play this week for two midweek contests. The Wolverines will head to Boise, Idaho on Tuesday to take on Boise State and on Thursday the Wolverines will return home to host in-state rival Utah State.

Both matches will begin at 7 p.m., and live stats and live video will be available for both. Tuesday's can be found by visiting BroncoSports.com and Thursday's will be available at WolverineGreen.com. Thursday's match with the Aggies will also be televised locally on UVU-TV.

After two more conference victories last week, UVU (19-7, 8-1 GWC) remains tied atop the Great West standings with North Dakota with identical 8-1 conference records. Before the season-concluding showdown against the Fighting Sioux on Nov. 11, the Wolverines will play three consecutive non-conference contests beginning at Boise State on Tuesday.

Earlier this year the Wolverines defeated the Broncos in Orem in four sets and UVU also leads the all-time series 8-2 against BSU. The Wolverines have currently won four straight matches and nine of their last 10, which includes Oct. 10's match versus the Broncos.

On the year the Wolverines are led offensively by senior outside hitter Chelsey Heaps and her 252 total kills and her 2.71 kill per set average. Defensively UVU is anchored by the three-time GWC Defensive Player of the Week in senior middle blocker Sarah Clement and her 112 total blocks and her 1.19 block per set average. Right behind Clement sits junior middle blocker Erica Nish who has 109 blocks and averages 1.17 blocks per frame.

Out of 327 NCAA Div. I teams, UVU is currently ranked 120th on the RichKern.com Regional Rankings (RKPI), while BSU is ranked 170th and Utah State comes in at 172nd. As a team the Wolverines are also currently ranked 18th in the nation in aces per set with an average of 1.64 and 29th in blocks per set (2.59).

About Boise State
The Broncos currently are an even .500 on the year with a 13-13 overall record. Boise State is coming off of two Mountain West road losses last week to New Mexico and TCU and has a 4-7 conference record. On the year BSU is led offensively by Liz Harden and her 250 total kills and her 2.58 kill per set average. At the net Darlene Nwagbuo leads the Broncos 83 total blocks.

About Utah State
The Aggies will come to Orem on Thursday with an 11-13 overall record and a 6-5 WAC clip. Utah State won two conference matches a week ago with home victories over New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech. Offensively Liz McArthur leads USU with 333 kills and a 3.74 kill per set average. Kaitlyn VanHoff leads the Aggies in blocks as she has averages 1.22 blocks per set and has tallied 95 for the year.

USU leads the all-time series 5-3 against the Wolverines but a year ago UVU defeated the Aggies in Logan in five sets.

Next up for the Wolverines
UVU will stay out of conference play to host Southern Utah next Tuesday, Nov. 8. The Wolverines will then conclude their regular season with a Great West title-deciding showdown versus UND on Nov. 11.

Promotions
Thursday's match versus Utah State will be Hometown Hero Night for senior Jaicee Kuresa. Any UVU fans from Kuresa's hometown of Millville, Utah can get into the match for free. Posters of Kuresa will be available for the first couple hundred fans and she will sign autographs afterwards.