TAYLORSVILLE, Utah – Finally playing at home was just what Skylar Fields and LOVB Salt Lake needed.
Skylar had 17 kills with just two errors in 39 attacks Thursday as LOVB Salt Lake not only won its First Serve, it turned the tables on LOVB Houston after losing to them just four days earlier.
Salt Lake improved to 2-2 as it hit .320 in the 22-25, 25-15, 26-24, 25-19 victory.
Video Recap | Match Stats | LOVB Salt Lake Roster | LOVB Houston Roster
"It worked out tonight,," said Skylar, who had eight kills in two sets during the January 18’s match against Houston. She hit .385 Thursday and added a block and seven digs.
"We needed to lock in more and we were really focused on our game plan and we came out here and executed and did what we had to do."
While Fields, hails from Missouri City, Texas, and played collegiately at Texas and USC, Roni Jones-Perry and Dani Drews are local products. Roni, who is from nearby West Jordan and played at BYU, had 14 kills and hit .429 to go with a block and five digs. Dani, who is from nearby Sandy and played at the University of Utah, had 13 kills, three aces, four blocks and eight digs. Both of their respective college coaches, BYU's Heather Olmstead and Utah's Beth Launiere, were at the match in the Bruin Center.
Tori Dixon had five kills with one error in 11 attacks, two aces, four blocks and two digs. Sophie Fisher had four kills in seven errorless swings to go with an ace and six blocks, and Heidy Casanova had four kills.
Setter Jordyn Poulter tallied 42 assists, a kill, a block and 11 digs. Libero Manami Kojima had 15 digs and five assists.
Houston (2-2), which hit .198, got 13 kills from Jess Mruzik, who also had 13 kills against Salt Lake in the previous meeting. She added an ace, a block and six digs. Amber Igiede had 10 kills on a .500 attack percentage, one block and two digs. Jordan Thompson had seven kills but a negative attack percentage, adding two blocks and two assists.
Christina Bauer had five kills in six errorless tries, two aces, three blocks and two digs. Madi Rishel had six kills and 13 digs and Grace Frohling had five kills, hitting .300.
Setter Micha Hancock had 29 assists and 10 digs, but no aces as Salt Lake did a much better job of handling her serve. In the previous meeting, she had four aces in the first five points alone. Kaisa Alanko had 15 assists and three digs and Anna Pogany had 16 digs and an assist.
In the first set, Houston was up 20-15 before Salt Lake closed the gap, pulling to within one at 22-21 on a big kill by Jones-Perry. But Mruzik answered with a kill – her fifth of the set – and an ace. After a Fields kill, Bauer ended the set with a kill off a quick set to the middle from Hancock.
Salt Lake dominated the second set, leading 16-13 before going on an 8-1 run that included all three of Drews' aces.
Houston rallied from being down 19-16 in the third to tie it at 19 on a Bauer ace. Salt Lake was up 22-21 when Sara Loda appeared to tie it for Houston, but Salt Lake challenged that there was no touch and won the decision. Houston tied it again at 23 on kills by Thompson and Mruzik. Drews gave Salt Lake the lead, but Houston knotted it at 24 on a serving error. Jones-Perry responded with back-to-back kills to win the set.
The fourth set was tied at 12 when Salt Lake went on a 10-2 run that included kills by five players and blocks by Dixon, Jones-Perry and Fisher.
The next League One Volleyball match features LOVB Madison at LOVB Omaha for that team's First Serve. The 7 p.m. Central start can be seen on ESPN+.
