Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Utah
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utah | 20 | 25 | 22 | 21 | 1 |
| Boston College | 25 | 10 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
Volleyball Halts Utah, 3-1, at the Yale Invitational
September 03, 2011 | Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2011
boxscore 
New Haven, Conn. -The Boston College volleyball team turned in its best attack percentage of the season to emerge victorious over Utah, 25-20, 10-25, 25-22, 25-21, and pick up its first win of the 2011 season on Saturday afternoon at the Yale Invitational. Four players recorded double-digit digs, including senior Tsvetelina Dureva who posted a match-high 15 kills and 12 digs for her second double of the tournament, to accelerate the Eagles (1-3) past the Utes (3-2) in John J. Lee Amphitheatre.
Senior captain Brennan Clark led all players with 24 digs. The BC defense was also bolstered by junior Val Mattaliano, freshman Lauren Fields and Dureva, who each recorded 12 digs to aide Boston College in its first-ever win over a member of the PAC-12.
Sophomore setter Cagla Sen dished out a season-best 33 assists, adding eight digs, two kills and a pair of block assists.
McKenzie Odale led all participants with 39 assists, while Erin Redd paced the Utes with 13 kills and nine blocks and Nikki Sim charted 20 digs.
The sides traded points to five all when Dureva shot home one of her two aces and sophomore Alex Fitzmorris connected with Sen to deliver her first of six kills on the evening, spurring a 7-0 run by the Eagles.
The Utes would crawl back to even the match at 12 and again at 13, but junior Krystle Higgins put away a kill to give BC a lead that it would not relinquish. The captain totaled seven kills on a stellar .429 hitting percentage on the day.
Up 14-13, the Eagles maintained the slight advantage as the two sides exchanged kills and errors until the Higgins and Sen stuffed Courtney Schofield for a 23-20 lead. A bad set by Sim and kill by Higgins handed the first set to the Eagles, 25-20.
The tide changed as Utah posted 16 kills on .516 attack percentage to even the match, 1-1, with a 25-10 win in the second set.
The Eagles regrouped at the break and came out battling point-for-point on the swings of Mattaliano, Dureva and Higgins. After a service error put BC up, 12-11, Mattaliano went-off for three straight kills on passes from Sen and Fields to 9-3 run by the Eagles.
With Boston College in control of the pivotal frame, 22-14, Utah began to push back. However, Sophomore Melissa McTighe's four kills provided the necessary offense to close out the set, 25-22. The six kills from the Los Altos, Calif. native established a career-high with for the second night in a row.
The Eagles gave up the first point on a ball handling error to start the third, but a service error evened the set prior to Sen and Mattaliano putting away kills to give BC a lead it would not relinquish.
Schofield sent a shot past the Eagle defense to close in, 3-2, but kills from Dureva sandwiched by a slew of Ute errors enabled Boston College to jump out to a 16-7 lead and prompt a timeout by Utah.
Out of the break, a string of errors gave the Utes hope as they eventually evened the set, 18-18. BC went up by two when Fitzmorris found the wood on a pair of shots and the Eagles closed out Utah, 25-21, for its first win of the year.
The Eagles will close out the Yale Invitational against Colgate, tonight at 7 p.m. Live stats are available through PrestoSports.
