SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - January 31, 2026 - LOVB Salt Lake delivered a dominant performance at Bruin Arena Saturday night, sweeping LOVB Atlanta to conclude their four-game homestand with a perfect 4-0 record. With the win, Salt Lake moves to a 5-1 season record and maintains its No. 1 ranking in the league.
Middle blocker Tori Dixon was named Player of the Match, leading the charge in efficiency with 11 points, including six kills on just nine attempts (.667 efficiency). Dixon anchored the defense with four blocks and added an ace, noting that the team’s aggressive service game made the defensive work easier.
“It helped a lot that we were serving really tough out of the gate and getting them out of system,” she said. “Iit makes our job as middles a lot easier.”
The offensive effort was powerful across the board. Alexa Gray led the team in scoring with 14 points including 11 kills, two aces and one block. Sophie Fischer added a massive contribution from the service line, recording a league-record five aces as part of her 10-point night. Setter Jordyn Poulter guided the attack with 32 assists, and libero Manami Kojima held down the backcourt with 11 digs.
Despite the sweep, the third set required a major comeback from the home team. Head coach Tama Miyashiro praised the team’s resilience: “We were able to put a ton of pressure on Atlanta. But I also think pressure makes diamonds. We were down by a lot of points (in the third), and to see this crew claw their way back into it is just really powerful.”
Atlanta was led by Tessa Grubbs with nine kills and two blocks, while Ivonee Montaño added nine kills and setter Rachel Fairbanks finished with 21 assists.
LOVB Salt Lake (5-1) hits the road to face LOVB Madison for their third meeting this season on Thursday, February 5, at 6 p.m. MT.
