Traveling up I-15, the T-birds were swept by Utah Valley in the regular season finale on Saturday.
Set one began with three straight Wolverines points, but three in a row from the T-birds evened the score early. The match remained close early on, with Utah Valley having a slight edge but SUU cutting the deficit to a single point on multiple occasions. With UVU ahead 16-13, Southern Utah answered with a point, and it seemed that the back-and-forth nature would continue. However, the Wolverines recorded a 5-0 spurt to push their lead to 21-14, and the Thunderbirds were unable to recover. Southern Utah cut the UVU lead to six (22-16), but the home team tallied the final three points to win the set 25-16 and take a 1-0 match lead.
Utah Valley’s momentum carried into set two, as they ran out to a 10-4 advantage. A 4-0 run by the T-birds cut the deficit to two (10-8), but the Wolverines responded by taking four of the next five points to push their lead back to five (14-9). Southern Utah was unable to get any closer than three from there, as UVU used a 7-2 run to end the set, securing a 25-17 win and a 2-0 match advantage.
SUU began the third set up 3-1, but the Wolverines answered to take the lead not long after (7-6). A 7-1 spurt by Southern Utah made the score 13-8, but UVU clawed back to jump back in front, 17-16. After a Thunderbird point knotted the score at 17, a 4-0 Utah Valley run put the home team up for good. Up 21-17, the Wolverines were able to close out the set, winning 25-22 and capping off a 3-0 victory.
Teniyah Leuluai led the T-birds in assists in defeat, totaling 23. Finley Charapata led the team in kills with 11.
Up next
Southern Utah (10-17, 6-10 WAC) will head to Arlington, Texas for the 2024 WAC Volleyball Tournament.
As the No. 6 seed, the T-birds will battle third-seeded Utah Valley in a quarterfinal round rematch on Thursday, Nov. 21.
The match will begin at 9 a.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.
