A trip on the road is bittersweet for WSU Volleyball as they head for their set of away games against Utah and No. 22 Colorado.

WSU will be kicking things off against the Utah Utes (14-11 overall, 4-10 Pac-12) Thursday night at 7 p.m. in Salt Lake City, UT. The Cougars will then make the trip to Boulder, Co. on Sunday to take on Colorado (15-11 overall, 7-7 Pac-12) at 11 a.m.

“No one on our team has given up,” sophomore outside hitter Kyra Holt said. “We still have fight.”

The Cougars are coming off of four consecutive losses, two of which are from last weekend’s home games against Oregon and Oregon State. Holt smashed 37 kills for the weekend leading the Cougars, followed by sophomore outside hitter Emmy Allen with 25. Defensively, junior libero Kate Sommer had a big weekend with 36 digs for both matches.

“We’ve been playing well but we can’t give up,” Sommer said. “We’ve just got to keep going… If we do our jobs and listen to the scouting-report I think we have a good chance.”

Last time the Cougs went up against the Buffs in October, they fell in three sets, but the weekend ended on a positive note for the team. When WSU faced Utah a few weeks ago, the Cougars claimed victory 3-1.

“I think the last six to eight matches we’ve done a really good job, especially limiting our opponents’ best hitter,” Head Coach Jen Greeny said. “Blocking and defense has been something that has been pretty consistent throughout much of the year so that’s definitely that we can continue to build on.”

WSU held Utah to a .127 hitting percentage. Holt tallied 12 kills and two aces and five blocks. Senior outside hitter Jaicee Harris followed with seven kills, two aces and fourteen digs.

“Especially that first half of the season, it’s been a lot of road matches and it’ll be nice to finish the season a little bit more at home,” Greeny said.

The matches against both Utah and Colorado will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network. Live audio will be broadcast on wsucougars.com.

Reporting by Bridgette Larsen