Rainbow Wahine have way with Aggie spikers Saturday
The new strategy was to have fun, but it was still too little, too late for the USU women’s volleyball team.
The Aggies fell in three games (17-30, 18-30, 24-30) Saturday night in the Spectrum to the No. 16 Hawaii Rainbow Wahine in only 77 minutes.
Though the result wasn’t a huge surprise to any of the 1,332 fans in attendance, the fun didn’t begin until Game 3 for the home squad.
In Games 1 and 2, the Aggies (12-15, 5-8 in WAC play) recorded -.029 and -.026 attacking percentages, along with collecting 23 combined attacking errors.
“The first two games we fell apart. It was obvious,” said junior opposite side hitter Amanda Nielson, who led the Aggies with 17 kills and five digs.
“A big thing tonight was that we wanted to have fun,” she said. “Because when we get down we don’t have fun. When we have fun we play better. I think in the third game we had fun and we did better.”
The Wahine (19-5, 11-1) were nothing short of superb, living up to their ranking in about every way possible on the post-game stat sheet.
Their two key outside hitters – Jamie Houston and Sarah Mason – were on fire as usual.
Houston, whom Aggie Head Coach Grayson DuBose said is more talented than many of the men he coached while at BYU, didn’t quite make it to the 20-kill mark she has reached in 11 other matches this season.
Houston tallied 13 kills, 10 digs and had a .520 match attacking percentage (including a .889 percentage in Game 2).
Mason recorded 11 kills, seven digs and a .360 match attacking percentage.
“She’s as athletic as very few people I’ve seen,” DuBose said of Houston. “[Hawaii] had us scouted. They did some nice things defensively. Those guys are bigand long, and we hadn’t seen a team like that in a while. It kind of kicks you in the butt a little bit when you see them. They were kind of on fire.”
The Wahine had only eight attacking errors to USU’s 34, and recorded a .417 attacking percentage as a team on the night.
“That’s why they’re No. 16 in the country,” DuBose said.
When asked if the Wahine are the hardest-hitting team the Aggies have seen thus far, Nielson hesitated to acknowledge that.
“No. I wouldn’t say that,” she said. “We just didn’t get our block up. I don’t think they hit really hard. Nothing we haven’t seen with BYU or Utah. They aregood, but we made them look a little too good.”
The Aggies had only a .068 percentage at the net.
In Game 1, USU found itself quickly in a 2-6 deficit.
The Aggies closed to within two before finding themselves down 15-24 later on, eventually losing thegame by 13 points.
Game 2 started out even rockier.
The Wahine sprinted out to an 11-1 lead, thanks in large part to five kills by Houston. Midway through the game, it was a 21-7 lead for the Wahine. The Aggies
cut lead to nine, but came no closer.
In Game 3, the Aggies again fell behind early, having to climb out of a 4-10 hole.
They proceeded to hit a .217 percentage in the game, even coming within five points(23-28) near the end.
Having a little fun can go a long way.
“The third game we played a ton better,” Nielson said. “If we would have played like that the whole time, I think we would have at least gone more games with them,” she said. “I don’t know why it took us so long to get into the groove of things. I guess that’s progress.”
Teams tend to improve with age and experience. That’s been the story all year for this young Aggie squad that has started as many as three freshman in some matches.
DuBose reiterated that point after the match.
“[Hawaii] is experienced. They’re well-coached. Kind of the whole package,” he said. “They’re as good as any team I’ve seen. The way we competed in the third
game, I was real happy with that. It comes down to a couple points that experience gives you. We didn’t have it and they did. That’s kind of the way it works. Experience is the big deal.”
Aggie freshman outside hitter Hailey Jeppson collected nine kills and six digs, but a -.033
attacking percentage.
Redshirt freshman Melissa Larson had eight kills, two block assists and a .278 percentage in conversion on attacks.
Monarisa Ale, a native of Kahuku, Hawaii, was right behind them with four kills, four digs and one block assist.
The Aggies travel to Pocatello, Idaho, Tuesday for a non-confernce matchup with the Idaho State Bengals, which begins at 7 p.m.
Aggie Notes: Junior outside hitter Beth Hodge did not play Saturday night. She is out with a stress fracture in her left leg, an injury that forced her to sit out earlier in the season. DuBose said it is the same injury that is nagging her again, and he would not say whether or not she will be back before the season is over.
-sbhislop@cc.usu.edu