Utah’s streak of consecutive national championship appearances was on the line early on Thursday night in Seatlle, WA. The evening opened with a blow after Abbey Paulson suffered an injury during warm-ups, forcing her out of the line-up, and the drama only intensified from there.
Utah opened on the floor where Jaylene Gilstrap and Adrienne Randall turned in a pair of 9.800s at the top of the rotation. Jaedyn Rucker would get the momentum rolling with a well-executed 9.900, which was again matched by former Olympian, Grace McCallum who turned in a flawless final pass. Mailie O’Keefe’s 9.