Aggis volleyball overcomes Pacific
One would have expected that with starting setter Andrea Delsigne sick, the game would not have gone well for the Aggies.
However freshman Dominique Arsenault held her own against Pacific.
Pacific was also short a starting setter in Hayley Anderson, who was sick with pneumonia.
The Aggies came into the game after being swept on the road by Pacific in their last meeting. They didn’t let that intimidate in this game, beating Pacific 30-28 in an intense match.
“I remember how it was last year, and we didn’t want that to happen again,” said sophomore Ingrid Roth. “We didn’t want that to happen again, not on our court.”
Roth scored some key points in the final moments of the fourth and final game. She made the final kill of the night to put the Aggies up 30-29 and then was part of a block, along with Mari Ruddick and Beth Hodge, that ended the game.
USU controlled most of the first game, only letting Pacific lead once for a few short moments.
Although Arsenault has not had much time to practice setting with the team, she put up some good ones for the Cerinianska, Roth and Cartwright.
Arsenault found out only three hours before the game that she would be replacing Delsigne, who is having some abdominal problems. The freshman played fantastically, putting up 15 sets in the first game, 16 in the second, 14 in the third and 13 in the final match, for a total of 58.
“Tons of credit goes to Dominique,” said Aggie Head Coach Burt Fuller. “She did a tremendous job.”
Roth said, “We have a really deep team and that shows when you pull four games against Pacific with a freshman setter.”
About her debut game, Arsenault said, “I was really nervous, but I have waited for my chance all season. My team was incredible and so supportive of me, I didn’t feel at any time that they didn’t want me there.”
The key moment of the match came during the second game when USU, down 24-27, made an incredible comeback. Cerinianska managed to score five of the last six points, the last four of which were powerful kills.
“Zuzana makes her presence known on the court, and that is really good, we need her to do that,” said Roth.
The Aggies only have one more game at home, against Cal State Northridge this Saturday.
“To finish here on a positive note [with a win against CS Northridge] would be awesome,” Roth said.
Quotables
“I thought we defended pretty well tonight and held our own against a very big blocking team.”
-Utah State Head Coach Burt Fuller
By the numbers
58- Assisists by freshman setter Dominique Arsenault
20- Kills by Utah State’s Zuzana Cernianska
6- All-time USU wins over Pacific in 32 meetings.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu