Ag spikers fall to Wahine
Just hours after the Aggies beat the Rainbow Wahine on the football field, the Utah State volleyball team didn’t have quite the same luck.
The Aggie spikers lost to No. 8 Hawai’i in three sets (25-19, 25-14, 25-13) late Saturday night in front of a crowd of 6,094 at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.
Head coach Grayson DuBose said the Aggies tried to keep Hawai’i out of system as much as possible, but struggled to do so.
“Their hitters were allowed to go hit in a nice rhythm,” he said. “Ours were out of rhythm a little bit.”
Hawai’i hit .458 in the match while limiting USU to a .159 hitting percentage. Jamie Houston led the Wahine with 13 kills.
DuBose said the Aggies had some good moments in the match, but were unable to sustain it for a long enough period of time.
“We had some opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of them like we should have,” he said. “We weren’t using our quick attack as much as we would’ve liked.”
Senior outside hitter Melissa Osterloh led USU with six kills, while senior Kris Hymas and freshman Emily Kortsen each added five kills in the match.
DuBose said the Wahine have improved their ball control since the teams last met and were able to capitalize on some Aggie errors.
“They were kind of able to set whomever they wanted, whenever they wanted,” DuBose said.
The Aggies came out to an early 6-4 lead in the first set, but a 7-2 run put Hawai’i ahead for good. USU hit .233 in the set, compared to .324 for Hawai’i.
Consecutive aces from Amber Kaufman propelled the Rainbow Wahine to a quick 4-1 lead. USU fought back, pulling within one point, but were unable to stop Hawai’i as Kaufman served a six-point run to push the score to 18-9, en route to the 11-point victory.
Hawai’i completed the sweep by dominating the third set, hitting .581 with no hitting errors.
The Rainbow Wahine hit a combined .551 in the second and third sets while limiting the Aggies to a .077 hitting percentage.
There were five tie-scores in the match and only one lead change, which took place in the first set.
USU struggled with their serving throughout the match, recording 10 service errors but only one service ace.
“I think that’s what it came down to at the end – this battle of serve and serve-receive,” said DuBose, “and I thought they (Hawai’i) kind of won it.”
USU is now 7-6 in WAC play and 9-15 overall, including 0-2 against Hawai’i this season. Hawai’i improves to 12-1 in conference play, and 19-3 overall.
The Aggies will play their final home game of the season Thursday against San Jose State at 7 p.m. in the Spectrum. USU will honor its four seniors before the match begins.
-joseph.w@aggiemail.usu.edu