The result moves Utah Valley to 14-4-3 overall as the Wolverines now wait to learn whether they will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. California Baptist earned the WAC’s automatic bid.

“We’re very proud of the body of work that we put together over the course of the season,” Utah Valley head coach Chris Lemay said. “Certainly, tying tonight wasn’t what we had planned on, but I have every reason to believe we put together a résumé that’s going to give us an opportunity to play more soccer and be selected on Monday.”

Ruby Hladek opened the scoring in the 35th minute when her right-side cross into the box deflected off a California Baptist defender and Josie Shepherd followed the play, firing the rebound into the net to give Utah Valley a 1-0 lead.

Utah Valley doubled the lead in the 54th minute when Kate Shirts kicked the ball to Nixan Jackson, who headed it forward to Faith Webber. Webber finished off the bounce toward the far post for a 2-0 advantage.

California Baptist pulled within one in the 61st minute after Utah Valley was whistled for a foul inside the box; Anja Jestrovic converted the penalty kick to make it 2-1. The Lancers tied the match in the 71st minute when Taylor Held scored to even things at 2-2.

Neither team found a winner during the two overtime periods, sending the match to a penalty-kick shootout that California Baptist won, 4-3.

“At the end of the day, we went 1-0-1 in the tournament and we don’t get the automatic bid,” Lemay said. “Congratulations to Cal Baptist, they beat us on penalty kicks, and unfortunately sometimes that’s the way that it ends. There are some things we’ll learn from this game that we can build upon and get better because of. We’re going to prepare like our name is going to be called on Monday, and be ready to go next weekend.”

Utah Valley outshot California Baptist 19-13 and held an 11-6 advantage in shots on goal. Webber led the Wolverines with six shots, including four on frame.

Five Wolverines earned all-tournament team honors: Hladek, Webber, Shepherd, Mia Owens and Bailey Peterson.

Utah Valley will learn its postseason fate during the NCAA selection show on Monday at 2 p.m. MT on NCAA.com.

Boise State races past Wolverines in men’s basketball

BOISE, Idaho — Jackson Holcombe poured in a career-high 22 points, but Utah Valley couldn’t overcome Boise State’s second-half surge in a 101-77 setback on Saturday afternoon at ExtraMile Arena.

Utah Valley moves to 1-1 on the season, while Boise State evens its record at 1-1. The Wolverines return to the UCCU Center to host Westminster on Wednesday, Nov. 12.

Boise State opened the game on a 5-0 run before Holcombe and Isaac Davis answered with back-to-back buckets to cut the lead to 5-4. After the Broncos pushed the lead to eight, Utah Valley responded with an 11-10 spurt to make it a 32-25 game with 5:42 left in the half. UVU trimmed the deficit to 38-33 on a Holcombe layup with 2:37 remaining, but Boise State closed the half on an 8-2 run to take a 46-35 lead into the break.

The Broncos carried that momentum into the second half with another 8-2 run to stretch the lead to 17. A three from Tyler Hendricks and free throw from Holcombe cut the margin back to 13, but Boise State answered again to push the lead to 20. Utah Valley strung together a 7-2 run–highlighted by a Hayden Welling jumper and a Noah Taitz three–to make it 63-48 with 11:51 to play, but the Wolverines could get no closer.

“We fouled too much,” UVU head coach Todd Phillips said. “They’re big and physical inside, and when you march a great foul-shooting team to the line like that, it’s hard to get stops. It felt like every time we tried to make a run, we put them back on the line.”

Holcombe led all scorers with 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including an 8-of-11 mark at the line. He added four rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block.

Welling finished with 12 points, going a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line. Davis, Trevan Leonhardt, and Isaac Hawkins each chipped in eight points, while Hendricks added six.

Utah Valley shot 49.1 percent (27-of-55) from the field but went just 4-for-19 from deep. Boise State shot 54.2 percent (32-of-59) overall and 45.5 percent (10-of-22) from beyond the arc.

“We need to knock down more shots,” Phillips said. “We were fine from two, but 4-of-19 from three isn’t going to get it done. We have to be more consistent in the half court, move the ball side to side, and stay disciplined.”

Boise State outrebounded UVU 32-25 and scored 29 points off 16 Wolverine turnovers.

Phillips said he saw important growth from his young roster.

“We have a lot of guys who haven’t played Division I basketball, and these minutes matter,” Phillips said. “Some guys battled. We shared the ball well. It’s about growth right now — learning how tough road games feel and bouncing back.”

Utah Valley hosts in-state Division II foe Westminster on Wednesday night at the UCCU Center. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. MT on ESPN+ and on the Wolverine Sports Network (ESPN The Fan).

Volleyball sweeps UT Arlington

ARLINGTON, Texas — Utah Valley University swept UT Arlington 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-22) on Saturday at College Park Center. Avery Page led the way for UVU (13-10, 9-2) with 17 kills for her third straight match with at least 14 kills. Bella Wooden added a season-high 10 kills and seven total blocks in the win. UTA (11-11, 3-7) was led by 10 kills from Jalie Tritt.

Alyssa Erickson tallied seven kills on 13 attacks, with Alyvia Jaffa adding five kills and five total blocks in the match. UVU Setters finished with 19 assists, and Evalyn Chism finished with 15 assists. Lani Matavao recorded 15 digs for the Wolverines.

UTA took an early lead in the first set, but the Wolverines quickly responded and tied it at 5 after a kill from Erickson. Utah Valley broke another tie at 9-9 with a 5-1 run to take a 14-10 advantage. In a tightly contested back-and-forth, UVU regained its footing and built a 22-19 lead with key plays from Wooden. Despite a rally from UTA, the Wolverines clinched the set 26-24 with decisive points from Page and Jaffa.

Utah Valley took the second set 25-20, helped by a combination of blocks and Maverick hitting errors, holding UTA to a .000 hitting percentage. Midway through the set, a strong block by Jaffa and Erickson tied it at 4-4, and UVU’s defense at the net finished with seven blocks in the frame. Wooden had four, Jaffa three, and Erickson and Sami Blackett two apiece. Page tallied seven of her 17 kills in the set, including one that pushed UVU ahead 21-17. Despite service errors and a late Maverick ace, Utah Valley sealed the set with a kill by Blackett from Natalie Riggs.

The Wolverines surged ahead in the third set with a strong offensive performance, highlighted by an early kill from Olivia Gloeckner that tied it at 1-1, followed by a service ace from Wooden to put them up 4-1. The Mavericks rallied to tie it, but Utah Valley quickly pulled away. The Wolverines tallied 18 kills in the final set, with Page scoring five on 10 swings, Erickson going 3-for-5, and Gloeckner adding three on three swings. UVU used a 7-3 run to go up 18-12, and Page closed it out with three kills and a service ace to finish the match.

Utah Valley has now tallied 11 sweeps this season and the ninth in WAC play.

UP NEXT:

Utah Valley closes out the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 15, at Abilene Christian before staying in Abilene for the 2025 WAC Tournament.

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