CHICAGO – Chicago State volleyball opened a three-match homestand here tonight with its first conference home contest in four seasons at the Jacoby Dickens Center, but Great West Conference co-leader Utah Valley crashed the party and claimed a three-set (25-9, 25-9, 25-19) victory. The Wolverines improved to 12-5 (4-0) this season, while the Cougars dropped to 0-16 (0-5) on the year.
The visitors recorded an early 9-3 lead in the first set following a service ace by senior Allyce Jones and later increased its advantage to 12-4 after back-to-back service aces from junior Kathleen Stevens. The Cougars could get no closer than nine points the rest of the way as UVU posted a 13-5 scoring drive to end the set ahead 1-0.
Stevens provided seven service points to help the Wolverines gain a 14-4 lead during the second set. UVU later garnered six service points from junior Dani Robison to conclude a 9-2 scoring drive to hike its leading margin to 23-6 before both teams split the final six points to finish the set with the visitors claiming a two-set lead entering intermission.
The third set opened with the visitors producing an early 5-1 lead after back-to-back kills by sophomore Chelsey Garfield. CSU later bounced by scoring 15 of the next 27 points to close within a single point at 17-16 after a service ace by junior Brittany Hale (South Holland, IL/Grand View (Iowa)) (South Holland, Ill.), but the Wolverines finished the match by tallying eight of the final 11 points behind three kills from junior Lanni O'Reilly.
Freshman Kimberly Naut (Reno, NV/Galena) (Reno, Nev.) paced Chicago State with four kills, while junior Hanya Minta (Eden Prairie, MN/Eden Prairie) (Eden Prairie, Minn.) recorded 13 assists on the night. Redshirt senior Shamara Clark (Bloomington, IN/South) (Bloomington, Ind.), sophomore Mazvita Maziveyi (Harare, Zimbabwe/Hillside (NC)) (Durham, N.C.) and senior Jean Keenan (/) (Braidwood, Ill.) each produced six digs for the Cougars. Keenan and Hale also recorded two service aces in the match.
Garfield recorded a match-best 10 kills to lead Utah Valley on the evening. Sophomore Rachel Anderson guided the Wolverines' offense with a match-high 18 assists, while Jones finished with 17 digs and Stevens notched three service aces.
The Cougars will return to conference play on Oct. 15 at the Dickens Center against Houston Baptist with the first serve set for 7 p.m.
~CSU~
