Spiker almost end Hawaii’s win streak

It was a tight match for the Utah State volleyball team Wednesday night in the Spectrum against No. 9 Hawai’i as the Aggies fell in five games to the Rainbow Wahine.

“It was a good match,” Utah State Head Coach Burt Fuller said. “Congratulations to Hawai’i.

They had a long road trip and to put a five-gamer together and to finish up strong in the fifth game is a testament to their program.”

Hawai’i entered the match having won 30-straight games – meaning they had won their last 10 matches in only three games each – and had a 104-game winning streak against WAC opponents.

“They’re a good team,” senior Ingrid Roth said. “They have a lot of experience. They’re not ranked ninth in the county for nothing. I thought we played well, we played together and just came up short.”

The match was a meeting between the top two teams in the WAC, and it looked like it. Playing as well as they have all season, the Aggies hung with Hawai’i and snapped their 30-game streak in the second game of the match.

Utah State led for most of the first game, but near the end, the ‘Bows made a surge and tied the game at 27. The game stayed tight until Hawai’i blocked a ball for the final point to win 31-29.

“If we’d had a couple breaks in game one, we’d have been out of here and hour ago, the match was that tight,” Fuller said.

In the second game, USU wasn’t going to let the game slip away again. Once again, the Aggies led for most of the game until Hawai’i was able to come back and tie the game at 28 again. Both teams traded points from there out until a block by Erin Graybill and Dominique Arsenault blocked a ball and Carolyn Forbush had a kill to give the Ags the two-point advantage for the 34-32 win.

“We try and be good after 20, that’s our goal,” Roth said. “When you’re after 30, you go into hyperdrive and try and be as tough as you can. That was really, really intense for us. It propelled us into game three.”

In game three, the Aggies came out and held on.

Although Hawai’i led early in the game, Utah State was able to come back and get the six-point win.

Game four was very nearly the same story, but the Aggies came out on the wrong side of the 24-30 score and were forced to go to game five where they were unable to put anything together against the Rainbow Wahine.

“Our kids played well,” Fuller said. “They didn’t back down, we stuck with the game plan and we challenged those guys. It was a good match. It’s tough to lose those, obviously.”

Zuzana Cernianska led four Aggies in double-digit kills. She finished the night with 20 while Erin Graybill was able to put 18 on the board along with five blocks. Forbush had 13 kills while Roth, playing with an injured hip, finished with 11.

The Aggies will next play their final two road matches of the season as they face New Mexico State Saturday before taking on Louisiana Tech Monday night.

-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu