Aggie volleyball beats Fresno State 3-1
The Utah State Women’s Volleyball team came out on top in a hard-fought grudge match Thursday night, defeating visiting Fresno State in four sets, 3-1. The Aggies were led by Senior All-American Liz McArthur who had 16 kills on the night, finishing with a .244 hitting percentage.
“We kept our composure and kept pushing,” McArthur said. “It would have made it a lot easier on us if we would have started a little quicker.”
It was a slow start for Utah State, as Fresno State jumped out in front early. Trailing 7-1, USU slowly chipped its way back into the set, finally pulling even at 17’s. After the Aggies and Bulldogs traded points back and forth, USU used a 4-0 run to advance to a 23-19 advantage. USU then fought off a late Bulldog rally to put the first set away at 25-23.
“Sometimes it’s hard to portray that confidence,” McArthur said. “It’s just that experience, you can’t fake it. I just try and do my best.”
McArthur got a lot of help from her teammates in securing the win. Junior opposite side hitter Shay Sorensen had a solid night, recording 10 kills. Sorensen, who had a career high in digs, fell just shy of a double-double after finishing with eight digs. Freshman middle blocker Kaitlyn VanHoff added four kills and a block for the Aggies as well.
“Once we figured things out, we started playing as a team, and we were good,” VanHoff said. “I felt like we could have started better, but other than that we did pretty good. We finished strong and took care of business.”
The Aggies went with a slightly different starting lineup than usual, and head coach Grayson DuBose felt it took the team a little while to get used to the change.
“Ashlan (Rogers) is going in for Rachel (Orr) now, and we’re leaving Shay (Sorenson) in to give us a little more maturity, and it took us about a game and a half to feel comfortable with it,” DuBose said. “I think the switch of the lineup was a difference. I think that helped us out a little bit.”
It wasn’t until the end of the third set that the Aggies finally found a rhythm and were able to put some space between them and the Bulldogs. Knotted at 14-14, Utah State used its defense to build an advantage, and, despite the efforts of freshman middle blocker Maci Murdock, the Bulldogs were unable to corral the Aggies, and USU held on for the 25-20 set victory.
The fourth and final set was a tale of two halves. Neither team was able to build more than a two-point edge for the first half of the set, and the teams were again knotted at 14-all.
It was all Aggies from there.
McArthur had five kills in the set and, with the Aggies, forced six Fresno State turnovers over the course of an 11-point streak to win the set and the match for the Aggies.
DuBose said he was glad to get the win.
“There’s no such thing as an ugly win,” DuBose said. “They’re all nice. We’ll take them anyway we can get them. I thought we got better as the match progressed. We went on a nice run, and we finished strong.”
With the win, Utah State improved to 8-11 on the season and climbed back to .500 in Western Athletic Conference play, at 3-3. Fresno fell to 8-10 and 3-3 in the WAC. The Aggies will have a chance to build on their momentum as they host the University of Nevada Saturday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m.
“It’s good to be at home,” DuBose said. “It’s nice to be here at the beautiful Smith Spectrum and playing in front of our fans.”
– curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu