CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah volleyball team will compete in their final non-conference tournament of the season this weekend at the UCR/CBU Tournament in Riverside, California from September 10-11.

Last Time Out

The Thunderbirds competed in the UCI/adidas Invitational last weekend and went 1-2 in the tournament. They dropped matches against Boise State and UC Irvine, but picked up a win over George Mason.

In the win over the Patriots, the Thunderbirds found themselves down 0-2, but won the final three sets of the match to complete the comeback. Carissa Richie had 12 kills and a .429 hitting percentage to lead the T-Birds offensively. The freshman also had two solo blocks and six block assists for 17 total points in the match. Isabella Saucedo and Ronnie Robinson contributed 11 kills each while Calli Johnson had 19 digs. Corrin Peterson had 41 assists and 12 digs of her own.

Richie played well on both sides of the ball all weekend, hitting .275 and averaging 1.50 kills per set and .93 blocks per set. Saucedo averaged 1.91 kills per set throughout the weekend and had a .210 hitting percentage. Johnson had 56 digs in three games, averaging 4.67 per set.

Richie and Johnson were both named to the UCI/adidas Invitational All-Tournament team at the conclusion of the event.

CBU/UCR Tournament Preview

Southern Utah will play three games this weekend against the University of New Orleans, UC Riverside, and California Baptist University.

The Privateers have only played two matches so far this season and have had five cancelations due to Hurricane Ida. They lost matches to Tennessee State and UTRGV both by a score of 1-3 to open the 2021 season on August 27. Sh'Diamond Holly leads the team offensively with 10 kills, averaging 2.50 kills per set. 

The Highlanders have started the 2021 season with a 1-3 record, picking up a season-opening win over Fordham before losing matches to New Mexico, LMU, and Fresno State. Amarachi Osuji and Marina Gonzalez are the big hitters for UCR, both averaging over 2.80 kills per set.

The Lancers have picked up a win in each tournament they have played so far this season, sweeping both Chattanooga and Montana. As a team, CBU has hit .322 in their wins this season. They are led offensively by Scherine Dahoue who averages 3.00 kills per set.

Tournament Information

The Thunderbirds will open the weekend on Friday against New Orleans at 1:00 p.m. Mountain time (12:00 p.m. Pacific time). They will also play UC Riverside at 8:00 p.m. Mountain time (7:00 p.m. Pacific time). Both matches will be played on UCR's campus in SRC Arena and live stats will be available at gohighlanders.com.

They will close out the weekend on Saturday with a match against California Baptist at 2:00 p.m. Mountain time (1:00 p.m. Pacific time). The match will be played on CBU's campus in Van Dyne Gym and it will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live stats will be available at cbulancers.com.

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