By Spencer Rodak , Stadium Sportzz
Southern Utah volleyball played two matches over the weekend, traveling to face Utah Valley and Utah Tech.
The T-birds dropped a 3-0 contest to the Wolverines on Thursday before falling by the same scoreline on Saturday to the Trailblazers.
Here are recaps of both of the weekend’s games, beginning with Thursday’s at UVU.
Thursday: at Utah Valley
Facing Utah Valley on Thursday, the T-birds fell 3-0 on the road.
Southern Utah took an early 8-5 lead in set one, but an 11-2 run put the Wolverines ahead, 16-10. SUU had no answer, as the home team pushed its lead to as many as eight before winning the set, 25-19.
UVU would continue the momentum into the second set, taking a 10-3 lead. Strong play by the Thunderbirds would cut it down to four (14-10), but the Wolverines recorded 11 of the final 13 points to win the set 25-12 and take a 2-0 match lead.
Utah Valley would use a strong start and a pair of 5-0 runs to win set three 25-13 and notch the 3-0 win.
Kaitlyn Aleshire led the T-birds in kills with 7, while Asya Akbulut recorded a team-high 15 assists.
Saturday: at Utah Tech
Traveling to St. George on Saturday, SUU fell 3-0 in its second rivalry match of the week.
Set one was close early, as the two sides were tied through 14 points (7-7). The Trailblazers would begin to pull away, however, aided by runs of 3-0 and 6-0 to take set one, 25-16.
The second set was also tied at 7-7 in the early moments, but a 7-1 spurt by Utah Tech put them in front, 14-8. Southern Utah would cut the deficit to three (16-13), but the Trailblazers would record nine of the final 11 points to win the set 25-15 and take a 2-0 match lead.
Set three saw the Thunderbirds lead in a back-and-forth set 15-14, but three straight Utah Tech points saw them jump in front 17-15 and never look back. After SUU cut the deficit to one (18-17), seven of the next nine points went the way of the Trailblazers as they closed out a 25-19 set win and secured the 3-0 match victory.
Kaitlyn Hoelker led the Thunderbirds in kills in defeat with 9, while Asya Akbulut recorded 11 assists.
With the two losses, the T-birds have now dropped six straight and fall to 2-18 on the season (1-8 WAC).
Up next
Southern Utah (2-18, 1-8 WAC) wraps up a three-match road trip at Cal Baptist on Thursday, Nov. 6.
First serve is set for 7 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.