The West Virginia Volleyball team traveled to Salt Lake City on Thursday evening for a Big 12 matchup against No. 19 Utah. This marked the first meeting between the two teams. The Mountaineers lost in three sets, making this their seventh consecutive loss, five of them with scores of 0-3.
The Mountaineers started off strong leading the first set 2-0. They were the first of the two teams to reach 15 points with a score of 15-12. The offense on both sides of the net looked strong with consecutive kills. Utah then went on an eight-point run, making the score 15-20. The Mountaineers added two more points to the score by Utah errors but could not manage to make it any further. The Utes took the set with a score of 17-25.
Utah led the second set 2-0 after two consecutive kills. An error allowed the Mountaineers to get on the board. While there was back-and-forth play, Utah continued to stay ahead for the entirety of the set, managing a huge 11-20 lead. The Mountaineers were able to score four more points during the set with a kill by freshman Nina Svetina, two Utah errors, and blocks by junior Lauren Bodily and sophomore Maddy McGath. The Utes took the set with a score of 15-25.
Just as in the previous set, Utah took an early 2-0 lead. Svetina, assisted by graduate student Sydney Reed, put down a kill to tie the score at 9-9. The Mountaineers then took the lead after a three-point run followed by a Utah timeout. Utah managed to gain their lead back with three kills and two West Virginia errors. They then made the score 14-24 with a nine-point run, eventually taking the set 16-25.
Senior Hailey Green was at the top of the attack leaderboard with 39. Graduate Student Lauren DeLo led both teams with 20 assists. The Mountaineers continue to miss a key role in their offensive. Redshirt junior outside hitter Cassidy Tanton is still out for a leg injury after being removed from their matchup against Arizona State.
West Virginia hopes to end its losing streak when it takes on No. 24 BYU on Saturday afternoon at George Albert Smith Fieldhouse.
