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AND Utah announced the impending retirement of valued administrator Mary Bowman and announced that Nona Richardson will fill her important role.

AND it was signing day for many Utah teams.

That all said, the cream of the Ute achievement crop last week has to be, for the second straight week, Beth Launiere's volleyball team.

Launiere's Utes won their first 10 matches, then lost to BYU and started the Pac-12 conference season 2-10. Many probably wrote them off. Those who didn't were in for a treat the past two weekends at the Huntsman Center.

Utah beat ranked USC and UCLA last weekend (then Nos. 20 and 17, respectively), and this Saturday night — while the football team stole our headlines — edged No. 2 Washington for their fourth consecutive Pac-12 triumph.

A .500 conference record is still within reach for Launiere's team, but that will require a sweep of No. 22 Colorado, No. 10 Oregon, and, this Friday, No. 1 Stanford.

FOOTBALL • It's starting to resemble a TV detective drama, where you find yourself saying, "Come on, don't they ever get a straightforward case?" It would be a legitimate creative challenge to draw up six more compelling conclusions to six Pac-12 games than Utah has had this season — and that's not counting what was a close game in the fourth quarter against No. 3 Oregon. The Utes prevailed for the fourth time in those six games Saturday in Palo Alto, moving to 7-3 and ensuring their first winning record since 2011. A South Division title is still mathematically possible, but more probable is that if Utah wins out, it will be featured in one of the conference's top three affiliated bowl games (Alamo, Holiday or Foster Farms).

Our coverage (or that which is not now totally outdated):

• Utes rise in the polls — back to where they were before loss to Ducks

• Utah got a "re-commitment" from junior college wideout Brandon Snell

ON DECK • vs. No. 15 Arizona, 1:30 p.m. MT on Saturday in Rice-Eccles Stadium

MEN'S BASKETBALL • Larry Krystkowiak told The Tribune's Kyle Goon that the opener was like "slugging rats for a while." O...K. But Krystkowiak was pleased with the way his team — a blend of experience and hyped youth — played down the stretch to close out Ball State in the opener. Particularly, he was pleased with senior point guard Delon Wright, who finished with 13 points, eight assists, three blocks and four steals in a typical statsheet-stuffing performance. Tuesday brings a truer test, when the Runnin' Utes visit No. 16 San Diego State.

Our coverage (or that which is not now totally outdated):

• Game story, with photos: Utah closes out Ball State in 16-0 stretch run

ON DECK • at No. 16 San Diego State, 2 p.m. Tuesday in San Diego; vs. UC Riverside, 7 p.m. Friday at the Huntsman Center

GYMNASTICS • The Red Rocks announced the addition of Arizona's MyKayla Skinner, Houston's Shannon McNatt, Pleasant Grove's MaKenna Merrell and New Jersey's Erika Muhaw on Signing Day. Skinner is "one of the top gymnasts in the world, said head coach Greg Marsden, and McNatt, Merrell and Muhaw are Junior Olympic qualifiers. Utah stands to lose in this year's senior class Tory Wilson, Becky Tutka, Corrie Lothrop and Georgia Dabritz.

ON DECK • Red Rocks Preview, Dec. 12 at the Huntsman Center

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL • Anthony Levrets' squad improved drastically from an exhibition loss to Alaska-Anchorage, exploding in overtime for a 100-87 win in the official opener. The game marked the return of Taryn Wicijowski, who missed last season due to an ACL tear, and she had a career night, and then shared with Goon a message for his sister and others trying to persevere through injury. True freshman Joeseta Fatuesi also gave fans a glimpse of why Levrets is so excited about her, scoring 14 points and collecting nine boards. Thursday, the team announced the signings of Sacramento point guard Erika Bean and Texas wing Jordanna Parker for its 2015 class.

ON DECK • at Creighton, Thursday at 8:05 p.m. in Omaha, Neb.; at No. 16 Nebraksa, Sunday at 2 p.m. in Lincoln, Neb.

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL • As mentioned above, it's been a remarkable turnaround for Beth Launiere's group, capped by a five-set takedown of the nation's No. 2-ranked team. It's Utah's first time beating a top-10 team since it beat No. 7 Colorado State in October 2004, and the Utes were led by seniors Chelsey Schofield-Olsen (18 kills, nine digs), Bailey Bateman (11 kills on just 24 attempts, four blocks) and Lea Adolph (career-high 24 digs). In beating Washington State on Thursday, the Utes saw the first career double-double for freshman Carly Trueman (12 kills and a whopping 10 blocks) and were also paced in the attack by another freshman, Adora Anae. Also, with Bateman due to depart next season, the Utes will need a defensive presence in the middle, and they may have addressed that with the signings of middle blockers Megan Boudreaux, from Bingham, and Berkeley Oblad, from Nevada.

ON DECK • at No. 1 Stanford, 9 p.m. Friday in Palo Alto, Calif.; at Cal, noon Sunday in Berkeley, Calif.

WOMEN'S CROSS-COUNTRY • Utah's season came to a close with a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships, led by a freshman Sarah Feeny, in 32nd. Feeny was in sixth place with 600 meters left, but faded down the stretch and narrowly missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships. Sophomore Jessica Sams took second among Utes, in 37th, and Rebekah Winterton ended her collegiate career in 43rd place. It was also the final race for Lauren Mills (78th) and Nikki Rietz (59th). "We know we have a lot of talent and young kids coming back for cross country next year, with more than half our roster being freshmen and sophomores," said head coach Kyle Kepler, in a release. "We are unfortunately losing three seniors … All three of them have had terrific careers here at Utah."

ON DECK • Season over

WOMEN'S SOCCER • Utah senior midfielder Katie Taylor was named to the Pac-12's second team, and freshman Mariah Elmer made the all-freshman team. For Taylor, it's the cherry on top of a career that saw her lead the team in goals and points as a senior and a junior, assists and points as a sophomore, and assists as a freshman.

ON DECK • Season over

SWIMMING AND DIVING • The Ute women won three events in a loss to No. 4 Cal on Friday afternoon at the Ute Natatorium. "This is not your average, run-of-the-mill team that we competed against," said Utah head coach Joe Dykstra in a release. "This is one of the teams that has a chance to win NCAAs and has numerous members of the U.S. Olympic team on it, as we well as the U.S. head women's swimming coach. … I'm really proud of the way our girls stepped up and raced against some of the best swimmers in the world." The likes of Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin gracing Utah's pool, the host's highlights included first place in the 100 and 200 breast from sophomore Stina Colleou, first in the 200 fly from junior Petra Soininen, and senior Giuliana Gigliotti's tie for first in the 100 free. Sophomore Amanda Casillas won the 1-meter dive.

ON DECK • Georgia Tech Invitational (diving only), Nov. 21-23 in Atlanta, Ga.

SOFTBALL • Continuing a trend of finding talent in California, Utah signed Mission Viejo outfielder Amy Dickman, Orange right-handed pitcher Hailey Hilburn, and Anaheim catcher Maddie Roth. Read more about Utah's new signees here.

ON DECK • Season over.

MEN'S TENNIS • Utah announced a recruiting class that head coach Roeland Brateanu said is "not done yet," but one he's "incredibly proud of" already, acceding to the release. London's Freddie McGeehan, Macedonia's David Micevski and England's Dan Little. All three have been ranked among the top 500 junior players in the world, Little as high as 192. Read more about them here.

ON DECK • Fall season over

WOMEN'S TENNIS • Utah has not yet publicized results from the ITA National Indoor Championships in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

ON DECK • Fall season over

SKIING • Former Ute and 2014 NCAA giant slalom champ Mark Engel was named to the U.S. Ski Team's "B" team, and All-American alums Scott Veenis and Tii-Maria Romar join the team as assistant coach and physical therapist, respectively.

— Matthew Piper

Twitter: @matthew_piper