(Cedar City, Utah - Oct. 5, 2024) - The Trailblazer volleyball team fell in four sets at Southern Utah on Saturday afternoon at America First Event Center.

Utah Tech (9-5, 3-1 WAC) dropped the first two sets, 20-25, 17-25, won the third set, 25-18, before dropping a back-and-forth fourth set, 24-26.

The Trailblazers were led in kills by junior outside hitter Kennedi Knudsen with 13 and redshirt senior opposite hitter Hannah Howard added 12.

Setters Marley Roe and Meg Carter each tallied 20 assists with Roe leading the way with 25 while Carter added 20.

Junior middle blocker Casidy Fried led the way blocking with six block assists and sophomore libero Mya Laufiso registered a team-best 13 digs.

A kill by Fried in the opening set cut SUU's lead down to one at 17-16, but an 8-4 run for the Thunderbirds down the strech gave them a five-point set win.

The second set saw the Thunderbirds get out to a 14-6 lead going on to take the set by that eight-point margin.

The Blazers avoided the sweep in the third set, hitting .500 in the stanza, getting out to a 13-6 advantage after a service ace by Fried.

With SUU cutting the Blazers lead down to four (20-16), a kill by Nana Asiata started a 5-2 run for UT to close out the set win.

A back-and-forth fourth set saw ties at 13 through 19 along with 21, 22 and 23, as a kill by Knudsen brought up set point for UT leading 24-23.

Unfortunately, the final three points of the match went the way of the Thunderbirds to complete the win.

The Blazers doubled up the Thunderbirds in blocks (12-6), but SUU led in kills (59-53), service aces (6-5) and digs (53-46).

The Trailblazers return home to host Grand Canyon (9-5, 2-1 WAC) on Thursday and California Baptist (1-14, 1-2 WAC) on Saturday at Burns Arena.