So far this season, Utah volleyball has yet to feel the sting of defeat.
The Utes are 9-0 on the year, but the players aren’t giving their unbeaten record much thought.
“We don’t really talk about it much,” senior Kalee Kirby said. “We take it one game at a time.”
Fellow senior Shelby Dalton echoed Kirby’s thoughts, saying, “It’s preseason and it’s really great, but the tougher teams are coming up, so we can’t ride on our wins that have already happened in the past. We have to keep getting better each day.”
The Utes’ record includes four home wins, two road triumphs and three neutral court victories.
Utah still has two more games before Pac-12 competition starts, with both games against in-state opponents and both on the road. The Utes will travel to Logan on Wednesday to face Utah State before heading to Provo on Friday night for a showdown with BYU.
Next week will be the much-anticipated start to the Pac-12 season. The Utes begin their conference season on the road in Colorado before heading up to Corvallis, Ore. to face the Oregon State Beavers.
 
Bateman anchors defense
The nine-match unbeaten streak to start the season is the second-best start in school history, and defense has played a huge part of it.
Defensively the Utes have held all but one opponent under a .200 hitting percentage. The impressive run includes a match against Cal Poly, where Utah held the Mustangs to a .041 hitting percentage as the Utes swept them 3-0.
“We play hard defense. I think we work hard. I think we’re scrappy and we scramble,” head coach Beth Launiere said.
Senior Bailey Bateman was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week after her 15 total blocks at the Lipscomb Invitational.
“When Bailey got the award, she said, ‘Thanks to my pins [the outside hitters],’ ”Kirby said. “It’s their blocks, but because she’s there so she gets it too.”
This is the Utes’ fourth Player of the Week since joining the Pac-12 four years ago, with all four being rewarded to defensive players.
“Our block is getting better each game,” Dalton said. “We are a lot better on defense than I think than we have been in the past.”
Utah is averaging 8.7 total team blocks per match.
 
Utes head to Logan
Utah State has already faced two Pac-12 teams this year, and they haven’t come out of it too strongly.
On Aug. 30, the Aggies took on Oregon State in Logan, where they lost 3-2. Despite the loss, Utah State proved competitive, leading twice in the match. The Aggies led 1-0 in sets and then again 2-1 before the Beavers won back-to-back sets to claim the victory.
This past Saturday, Utah State was in Honolulu, Hawaii where they played against No. 25 UCLA in the Hawaii Outrigger Hotels & Resorts VB Challenge. The Bruins defeated the Aggies 3-1, dropping the Utah State record to 4-5.
Elle Brainard — who was named to the preseason All-Mountain West Conference Team — leads the Aggies. Brainard struggled this past weekend in Hawaii, posting just 11 kills in the three matches and had a negative hitting percentage in two of the three matches.
“We just have to play our game, and I think our game is good enough [to beat them],” Dalton said.
Utes lead the all-time series against their neighbors from the north 45-25.
“It’s another game that comes down to pride, and we want to win,” Kirby said. “We know a lot of their players and how they play.”
The match is set to start at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
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