After three road conference games all ending in a loss, the Southern Utah University women’s volleyball team will face Big Sky Conference opponent University of Northern Colorado at home in Cedar City, Utah, at the America First Event Center. The game will be on Saturday, Oct. 3, at noon.
The Thunderbirds have had a rocky start to the season, holding a 1-12 overall record. They have also struggled against conference opponents, going 0-3 so far. SUU is hoping to use the home court energy to get them to their first conference win.
The Bears hold a 6-8 overall record and are 2-1 in conference play so far this season. Like SUU, Northern Colorado was recently defeated 3-1 by Utah Tech.
The teams have met a total of 12 times since 2012. The Bears have won 11 of the 12 matchups with eight of the victories being sweeps.
Southern Utah
After defeating Chicago State University in their first home game of the season on Sept. 18, SUU broke an 8-game losing streak and claimed their first victory. The team has now entered a 4-game losing skid and has fallen in all three conference games they’ve played.
The defense for Southern Utah has been fantastic, recording nine blocks in back-to-back games. In those two games, they recorded 106 digs, the most for the team across any two-game span this season.
The Bears have a strong offense; in six of their last four games, they have more than 50 kills. The Thunderbird defense will need to continue their strong performance to halt Northern Colorado.
The T-Bird offense, for the second time this season, has had at least 30 kills four separate times in five matches. They have also increased the number of kills over their past two matches. The offense will look to use this to their advantage against a team that gives up more than 12 kills per set.
Northern Colorado
The Bears are coming off a big week, beating Montana University and sweeping Montana State University at home in their first two conference matchups of the season. Northern Colorado freshman Gillian Walton earned Big Sky Offensive Player of the week and was a big part of those two dominant home wins.
Against Montana, Walton recorded 20 kills, her season-high so far, while also posting a 35.9% hitting percentage. She averages over four kills per set and has 32 kills total.
Northern Colorado is coming off a loss to UTU on Thursday in their first road conference game. The offense averages a very efficient 13 kills per set and has a 24.7% hitting percentage. On defense, they allowed opponents to hit over 23% in three of their last four matches and averaged just over two blocks per game.
Game info
SUU will host Northern Colorado on Saturday, Oct. 3, at noon in the America First Event Center in Cedar City, Utah. The game can be streamed live on ESPN+.
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Author: Andrew Streeter
Photo by SUU Athletics
Editor: Payson Davis
