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OREM — Utah State women's volleyball traveled to Utah County and took down Utah Valley in a 3-0 sweep Thursday night.
With a close third set that left everyone on the edge of their seats, the Aggies closed out the final set to win the match 25-10, 25-19, 25-23.
The Wolverines had a slow start to the match and couldn't overcome an Aggies team the dominated in the first set. Utah Valley fought hard in the third set and took a 5-point lead over Utah State, but the Aggies pulled away for the sweep with a 25-23 win.
"I felt like we had good control in that third set and we were doing things that we expected," Utah Valley head coach Sam Atoa said. "So I was proud of us for being able to put ourselves in those situations, but we just weren't the better team tonight when it came to those, what we refer to as 'warrior moment.'"
Atoa explained "warrior moments" as times when the team is tied 20-20 or 23-23 during a set — exactly what happened during the third set.
Between the first and second set, it was a completely different Utah Valley team. The Wolverines managed to start the second set with a 4-point lead on the Aggies. Hailey Cuff led the Wolverines with eight kills and was closely followed by Tori Ellis and Avery Shewell, who each had seven kills apiece for the night.
"We've got a lot to learn, and we also have to be able to get better at taking care of situations of the ball when we have it," Atoa said. "We didn't do a very good job with that tonight."
In-state rivalry week finishes up with No. 12 BYU visiting Utah Valley in Orem Friday night.
