Aggie spikers end season with a win
The Utah State women’s volleyball team finished the season strong, beating Louisiana Tech in a four-set match (25-20, 25-22, 19-25, 25-17) Saturday evening in Ruston, La.
Senior outside hitter Kris Hymas led the Aggies with a career-high 16 kills, five digs and a career-high .316 hitting percentage in the match.
“It’s nice to be able to go on the road and win at the end of a long road trip like this,” said head coach Grayson DuBose.
The Aggies had a balanced attack in Saturday’s match. Senior middle blocker Rebecca Anderson had nine kills and five blocks, while sophomore middle blocker Katie Astle had nine kills and three blocks while hitting .500. Senior outside hitter Melissa Osterloh added eight kills, three blocks and 13 digs for USU.
“It was nice because we were able to play everybody that traveled with us on this trip,” DuBose said. “Shanda Larson came off the bench and did a really nice job passing and digging. It’s fun to be able to play everybody.”
DuBose said he was also pleased with sophomore Lori Wilson’s performance, who had three service aces in the match.
Louisiana Tech was led by KC Clayton and Natasha Kolunija, who each had 10 kills for the Lady Techsters.
“The nice thing about tonight’s match, I thought, is we served and received serve very well,” DuBose said. “We kept them out of system and we were able to stay in system, which for us is a real plus.”
DuBose said LTU is good at home, as most teams are, so it was nice to win on the road.
Both teams came out struggling offensively, as USU hit only .086 in the first set. The Aggies were able to end the set with a victory by limiting Louisiana Tech to a negative .083 hitting percentage.
The offensive struggles continued in the second set as USU recorded a .024 hitting percentage compared to .105 from Louisiana Tech. The Aggies recorded four service aces, three of which came from Wilson, on their way to the three-point win.
Both teams hit better in the third set, but Louisiana Tech was able to pull away and come out with a six-point win, improving to 2-1 in the match.
The Aggies closed out the match in the fourth set by hitting .216 and limiting LTU to a negative .030 hitting percentage, finishing with an eight-point victory.
USU improves to 9-7 in the WAC and 11-16 overall. The Aggies finish the season in fourth-place in the WAC, and will face fifth-seeded San Jose in the first round of the 2008 WAC Volleyball Tournament on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in Honolulu.
“That’s a nice matchup,” DuBose said. “We’ve competed well against them both times this year, so we’ll have to see if we can do it again.”
Regarding the tournament, DuBose said, “Anything can happen on any given Sunday, any given Thursday in this case.”
“We make it exciting no matter what, it seems.”