Women’s volleyball road trip continues
The Trojans look to pick up their ninth conference win of the season in Utah Friday. The game against the Utes will be the team’s third consecutive away game, following matches at University of California, Berkeley and Stanford.
Despite earning 28 kills, the Trojans dropped all three sets with 11 errors at Maples Pavillion last Sunday. Stanford’s ninth win led them to the number one spot in the Pac-12 standings, with USC following closely behind with 8 conference wins. The loss at Stanford ended the Trojans’ seven-game winning streak, their longest since 2016.
In response to the loss, Head Coach Brad Keller sent his team a video called “How to Stop Holding Yourself Back” by Simon Sinek.
“If you focus on the negative, you start working on the negative or the obstructions versus what [we are] actually trying to do,” Keller said in an interview with the Daily Trojan on what message he aimed to deliver through the video. “The message is about learning from the loss of Stanford to help us prepare for what the actual mission or journey or vision or whatever it needs to be.”
The Trojans aim to shift momentum back in their favor for the upcoming game in Utah. Senior opposite hitter Emilia Weske is coming off of a big performance at Cal with a career-high 20 kills that helped bring home the win.
Senior outside hitter Skylar Fields will also be a player to watch in the upcoming matchup after collecting 31 kills over the past two games. Fields was nominated as Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week.
“Everyone wants to talk about the number, but it’s her personality, who she is, the attitude she brings on the court and the swagger that we need at this program,” Keller said.
With 15 kills and 3 blocks to her name in the Cal game, freshman outside hitter Jordan Wilson is another lethal component of the Trojan squad.
“Utah is going to be way better than how they were before, and I’m really excited to play them again because I know they’re going to play a lot harder to try and beat us because we beat them,” Wilson said in an interview with the Daily Trojan.
Utah is currently ranked seventh in Pac-12 standings with a 5-5 conference record. While Utah hasn’t dominated the conference to the same extent as USC, the Utes are coming off of a big win against Oregon State where they swept the Beavers 3-0.
While this is the first time this season that the Trojans will travel to the Jon M. Huntsman Center, it is not their first matchup against Utah. The Trojans faced the Utes at Galen Center Oct. 2 and won the match in four sets. In that game, fifth-year outside hitter Madelyn Robinson boasted a strong performance with 23 kills and 7 digs. Since then, Robinson has added 100 kills to her stat sheet and will be a player to watch in the upcoming matchup.
“Utah is a good team. Honestly, all that we can really do is just prepare because we know that, not just them, but every single team, even though we played them before the first time doesn’t mean they haven’t gotten better,” Wilson said.
Utah senior setter Emily Smith will also be a threat to the Trojans as she tallied up 35 assists in their last matchup at Galen Center.
Although the upcoming matchup will be played away in Salt Lake City, Trojan fans can still follow the game on the Pac-12 Network as the team continues to fight for wins this season.
“I will always bet on this team,” Keller said. “I will go to war with this team anytime, anyplace, anywhere.”
The match between the Utes and the Trojans will begin at 5 p.m. Friday.
Correction: A previous version of this story credited a different photographer for the image. The photographer is actually Tomoki Chien. The Daily Trojan regrets this error.