No. 16 Rainbow Wahine look to wash away Aggie squad
With the 16th-ranked team in the nation coming to town Saturday, there is no question it will take a lot from the USU women’s volleyball team to snag a win.
Before Thursday’s afternoon practice, Aggie Head Coach Grayson DuBose jokingly mentioned a sure-fire way that the Aggies (12-14, 5-7 in WAC play) wouldn’t lose to the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine in the 7 p.m. matchup between the two teams in the Spectrum
“If they miss their flight [into Salt Lake City],” DuBose said.
They say there’s a bit of truth to every joke, no matter how harsh it is.
And in this case, the truth is evident.
The Aggies, losers of six of their past eight matches, have an 18-match losing streak to the Rainbow Wahine (17-5, 9-1) which dates back to 1981.
On Oct. 6 of this year in Honolulu, USU fell in a quick three games to the Wahine.
Earlier in the season DuBose said the Rainbow Wahine are the “gold standard” of the conference. They are the owners of 10 WAC titles, 33 winnings seasons, eight appearances in the NCAA regionals and have been in the Top 25 rankings for a total 207 weeks of the program’s history dating back to 1992.
“It’s a nice deal to be Hawaii,” DuBose said. “Traditionally, they’ve been one of the greatest teams in the country, and that really makes it a challenge for our program. They’re well-coached, they have great athletes. They have a great tradition behind them as well. All those things kind of combine to help them. They’re very good.”
To come close against the Wahine, the Aggies will have to somehow stop outside hitter Jamie Houston from getting too hot.
The sophomore has recorded 11 20-kill matches this season, including 23 in the victory against the Aggies.
How good is she?
“I told the papers in Hawaii when we played them the first time that she’s better than a lot of the guys we coached when I was at BYU,” said DuBose, who was an assistant at BYU from 2001 to 2005.
“I think she’s a wonderful volleyball player,” he said. “Great athlete. Her athleticism allows her to be high above our block and go hit over the top of us. When she’s on, she’s as good as anybody I’ve seen this year.”
The Aggies, who only play one match this week, are coming off a road loss to New Mexico State – the only WAC team that has been able to defeat the Wahine.
With only one match providing a little extra time, DuBose let the team take Monday and Tuesday off without practice to help the team get healthy for Saturday’s big match.
Amanda Nieson continues to lead the Aggies with 4.12 kills, 2.14 digs, .37 aces and 1.07 blocks per game.
Beth Hodge has tallied 3.21 kills per game, while freshman Hailey Jeppson has collected 2.96.
Though the Aggies have pushed the Wahine to a five-game matches the past two years in the Spectrum, DuBose knows that’s not much of an indicator.
“It probably sits in the back of the players’ minds more than it does the coaches’ minds,” DuBose said. “We are a totally different team. We’ve lost so much from last year. Eighty-five percent of the offense is gone, so that makes it a real challenge for us to match those numbers.”
But miracles have been known to happen, and DuBose acknowledges it is a possibility.
“I’m stupid enough to think that if we stay in-system enough and do the right things that we’ll be OK,” he said. “The biggest key for us is to be able to control our side of the net. Pass well, serve well, block well. Stay in our system as much as we can. Those things give us a chance to win.”
Next Tuesday the Aggies travel to Idaho State for a non-conference match before hosting the Nevada Wolverines in the final home match of the season. Then they travel to Boise State and Idaho to round out the season.
-sbhislop@cc.usu.edu