Wildcats Subdued by Aggie Hitters
The Utah State Aggies (3-0) continued their hot start to the volleyball season Aug. 31 by defeating the Weber State Wildcats in three sets at home. The Aggies improve to 2-0 on the season against in-state rivals, while the Wildcats dropped to 0-4 on the season and just couldn’t find a comfortable groove against the Aggies. The Wildcats struggled mightily with ball control throughout the entire match and the Aggies were able to capitalize.
“We were able to serve well enough tonight,” said USU head coach Grayson Dubose.
“I thought we were able to get those guys uncomfortable and out of system a lot.”
The Aggies jumped out to a quick and commanding 5-0 lead early in first set, forcing the Wildcats into an early timeout. The Wildcats wouldn’t go quietly in the first set, however, battling back to tie the set 12-12. Junior Liz McArthur, fresh off of being named WAC Player of the Week, put the Aggies up 17-13 with one of her five kills during the set. USU never looked back, closing out the set 25-17.
The Wildcats battled back, and the second set swayed in their favor early on as they kept the score close and fought to a 13-11 lead. Sophomore outside hitter Bethany Wray, who had five kills in the first set, had six more kills in the second set, but it wasn’t enough as the Aggie defense tightened up by going from two blockers to three blockers on the front line. The adjustment played to the Aggie advantage and allowed USU to take control of the set.
“We feel like that when we serve well and know where they’re going, we can get three blockers up, and that really plays to our advantage so that we can run our system and keep them out of system,” said senior middle blocker Katie Astle.
Astle had two kills in the second set and finished with seven kills on the match. Junior outside hitter Liz McArthur continued to play strong and scored a career-high five service aces, including three in a row in the second set. The Aggies won the second set 25-19 and carried the momentum in to the third set.
The Aggies jumped out to a commanding 11-4 lead in the third set, forcing the Wildcats to call another timeout. The Wildcats trimmed the lead to 14-10, but the USU rallied off three straight points to force the Wildcats into their final timeout. It was another stirring performance by USU, but in the end, Dubose was just happy to get a win.
“I think we work hard and I think good things should happen when we work hard. It’s a nice team win. We mixed it up a little bit and got some people experience. It’s kind of nice to reward everybody for working hard,” Dubose said.
The Aggies will next take their undefeated record to the Arizona State hosted Sheraton Classic. They will face San Diego State and Seattle University on Friday, followed by Arizona State on Saturday. Coach Dubose said his team will need to step up to be successful over the weekend.
“We need to be focused; we need to be dialed-in right from the beginning. It’s going to be a challenging couple of matches for us,” he said.
The Aggies will take on San Diego State for their first match of the Sheraton Classic on Friday morning at 11 a.m.
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu