Aggie claw Tigers in Spectrum
Last night for the first time in 20 years the Utah State women’s volleyball team beat the University of Pacific Tigers in a close five-game match.
The win breaks a 19-game losing streak against Pacific and is USU’s first win against the Tigers since 1981.
“It’s as big a win as Santa Barbara was a loss, maybe even more so for some of these kids, I’m really happy for them. Our seniors have never beaten Pacific before and they’ve earned this victory,” head coach Burt Fuller said.
“It’s huge, we haven’t beaten Pacific in 20 years,” outside hitter Shauni Fluckiger said.
“After 20 years its about time we get a win,” setter Chelsi Neves said.
Before last night’s game, the Aggies were tied for third place in the Big West Conference behind No. 12 Pacific. The game last night moves the Aggies into second place with a 5-1 record while Pacific drops to 5-2.
In the first game, the Aggies lost the first point, but after coming back immediately to tie the game, the Aggies would not relinquish the lead. The closest Pacific was able to come was when they tied the game 17-17.
With the game tied at 17-17, the Aggies outscored Pacific 9-1 and ended up coasting to the 30-24 victory.
The second game started much the same as the first, with Pacific grabbing the quick lead and the Aggies coming back. The Aggies went up 13-8 before Pacific mounted a comeback and tied the game at 13.
With the game tied at 13, the teams started trading points until Pacific was able to get a rally going. Pacific went up 21-19 and didn’t look back, taking game two, 30-27.
The third game looked to be very similar to the previous two with Pacific scoring first, but the Aggies came out fired up. With Fluckiger serving, the Aggies scored five straight.
Taking the early lead, the Aggies proceeded to put Pacific away, winning 30-17, behind strong defense and good hitting.
In the third game, the Aggies hit .386 with 20 kills and only three errors. On the other side of the net, Pacific was held to .023 hitting with only 10 kills and nine errors.
Following the third game, it looked as if the Aggies might be able to come out and put Pacific away, but the Tigers didn’t give up easily.
Falling behind to the Aggies 12-7, Pacific was able to mount a rally, tying the game at 15-15 and taking the lead at 21-20. Once the Tigers had the lead, they hung on and won 30-28.
UOP’s victory in the fourth game set up the decisive fifth game. The Aggies started with the serve, and jumped out 4-0, but as they had done through much of the game, Pacific fought back.
Pacific took the lead at 9-8, but it was short lived as the Aggies were able to tie the game at 11-11 on a kill by Fluckiger.
With middle blocker Michelle Matheson serving, the Aggies finished the game by scoring five straight points, two of the final three scored by outside hitter Erin Cartwright. This strong finish gave the Aggies the 15-11 victory in the game and the 3-2 match win.
“This is a victory that you remember for a lifetime, this is a victory that helps you get through the season,” Fuller said.
For the Aggies, Fluckiger had a career high 23 kills while hitting .315 to go with 17 digs.
“We’ve been waiting for Shauni to have a breakout match. She’s a tremendous athlete,” Fuller said. “Hopefully she builds on that from here, but we’ve been waiting on that with her athleticism. We think she’s that kind of player.”
“I feel great about the match, I think everyone played together well,” Fluckiger said.
Once again the Aggies relied on good balance to earn the victory. Five Aggies, Hailey MacKay, Lisa Borom, Cartwright, Fluckiger and Matheson, had double digits in kills.
“Five hitters in double digits, you can’t do better than that,” Neves said.
Neves’s game-high 72 assists moved her into fourth-place on the USU career assists list.
The Aggies also played good defense, out digging Pacific 98-73 and holding sophomore second team All-America Jennifer Joines to 22 kills.
“We talked earlier in the week about serving and putting them in trouble a little bit where they can’t use their hitters. Down the stretch, maybe they weren’t able to get the ball to six as much as they wanted. That takes an All-American, and one of the top players in our country, out of the game, at least that first play,” Fuller said.
Following last night’s victory, the Aggies are now looking forward to playing California State University at Northridge on Saturday at 7 pm in the Spectrum.
“Northridge is a good team,” Fuller said. “I think the kids are pretty focused, they want to do well so I don’t think there will be a letdown for Saturday.”
The Aggies will be looking for their fifth straight victory when the Matadors come calling. The two school’s haven’t played since
1984.