With the victory, Utah Valley improves to 14-4-3 overall and extends its winning streak to eight matches. The Wolverines have also gone unbeaten in 13 consecutive matches.

“I was impressed tonight with the way that the team managed the match,” said Utah Valley head coach Chris Lemay. “We executed really well. I thought we were sharp. I thought we were intelligent. I thought we kept the ball well, created some dangerous chances and scored some good goals.”

The Wolverines controlled the match offensively, outshooting Cal Poly 23-5, including a 7-2 advantage in shots on goal. Utah Valley also held a 6-2 edge in corner kicks. Rustand led all players with five shots, including two on frame, while Beardall finished with four attempts. Clawson and Jackson each recorded three shots.

Freshman goalkeeper Madeleine Boucher earned her seventh individual shutout of the season, making two saves to help the Wolverines secure their eighth team clean sheet.

“Another shutout, and in a semifinal,” Lemay said. “We’re really happy about where we’re at right now and we’re excited about next week.”

Utah Valley now advances to the Big West Championship Final, which will be played Saturday, Nov. 14 at 5 p.m. MT at UCCU Stadium. The Wolverines will face the winner of Saturday night’s other semifinal between No. 2 UC San Diego and No. 3 Cal State Fullerton.

Women’s basketball loses narrowly to Santa Clara

Utah Valley women’s basketball was defeated by Santa Clara, 64-62, on Saturday afternoon inside the UCCU Center. Elizabeth Gentry led the Wolverines (1-1) with 18 points and eight rebounds to pace the offensive effort. The UVU defense held SCU (2-0) to just 33 percent shooting from the field despite Sophie Glancey’s 20 points.

“I was really proud of our fight today, said UVU head coach Dan Nielson. “Santa Clara is a really good team I thought we matched them throughout the night. I was especially pleased with our effort defensively. It was fun to see us start to play to our potential in the second half and give ourselves a chance at the end. Hopefully we can take some positives away and find some more consistency as we head into next week.”

Early in the fourth quarter, Santa Clara pushed its lead to 13 after back-to-back triples made it 58-45 with 7:07 remaining. Clark started a UVU comeback with 6:21 left, knocking down her second 3-pointer of the game and later adding a mid-range jumper to cut the Bronco lead to single digits at 60-51.

Utah Valley turned up the defensive pressure and found its way to the foul line as Blackham, Clark and Anna Shreeve each converted free throws. Shreeve later added a basket to cut the lead to five with 2:41 left. Blackham attacked the basket for a pair of driving layups, including one with 1:05 remaining to make it 64-61. The Wolverines had two possessions to take the lead but were unable to convert. Tanuvasa had a good look with three seconds left, but the shot rimmed out.

UP NEXT

Utah Valley will have a week to prepare for its first Mountain West opponent of the season when it hosts Nevada on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 2 p.m. MT inside the UCCU Center.

Volleyball defeats UC Irvine

Utah Valley women’s volleyball defeated UC Irvine, 3-2 (25-20, 21-25, 25-19, 19-25, 15-10). UVU (9-16, 7-7) was led by Maranda Woolf, who tallied a career-high 10 kills and eight total blocks on her Senior Day. Miley Thunstrom added 15 kills, while Evalyn Medaris recorded 40 assists, five blocks and 12 digs. UCI (9-16, 7-7) was led by Taylor Boice, who finished with 15 kills.

The Wolverines hit .481 in the third set as the offense recorded 16 kills with only three hitting errors. Woolf led the way with six kills in the set while adding two blocks, including a kill that put UVU ahead 16-11. Utah Valley maintained a comfortable lead that was extended to 20-12 after a kill from Hansen. UCI cut the lead to 22-18, but Thunstrom, Gloeckner and Rueckert helped secure the set victory.

The teams played to a 10-10 tie before UCI took a 12-10 lead, forcing UVU to call a timeout. The Wolverines continued to keep it close, with Gloeckner tallying two kills to make it 14-13. The Anteaters held the lead by one or two points for most of the set before taking a 19-16 advantage. UVU called its final timeout of the frame and later trimmed the deficit to one, but UC Irvine used a 6-1 run to close the set and force a fifth set.

Thunstrom served up one of UVU’s seven aces to give the Wolverines a 4-2 lead in the fifth set. The Anteaters later tied the set at 7-7 before Utah Valley used a 3-0 run to jump ahead 10-7. The Wolverines then secured the match with a 4-0 sprint to the finish for a 15-10 victory.

Following the match, Utah Valley honored five seniors who played in their final home match: Maranda Woolf, Madi Standifird, Lan Toutai, Olivia Gloeckner and Brielle Rueckert.

UP NEXT

Utah Valley will travel for the final two weeks of the regular season, beginning with a two-match trip next weekend to Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara before wrapping up the season against Cal State Bakersfield and CSUN.