Ags drop from second to fourth in BWC
What a difference a weekend can make.
Unfortunately for the Utah State University women’s volleyball team, it meant dropping from second to fourth place in the Big West Conference as the Aggies dropped road matches to California Polytechnic University and the University of California, Santa Barbara over the weekend.
USU is now 11-7 on the season (7-3 in the Big West).
Cal Poly 3, USU 2
Following a tough loss to the University of Utah on Tuesday, the Aggies appeared to be on their way to a rebound victory over Cal Poly, leading the Mustangs 2-0 Friday night at Mott Gym.
However, the Mustangs foiled USU’s plans, taking the next three games en route to a 26-30 23-30, 30-25, 30-17, 16-14 victory, snapping USU’s six-match winning streak in conference play.
Despite a season high 98 digs, including a career-high 26 by senior defensive specialist Heather Olmstead, the Mustangs were able to one-up the Aggies defensively, recording an astounding 42 block assists.
For the match, Cal Poly collected 23 team blocks to USU’s eight. The top blocking team in the Big West last season, the Mustangs received 11 block assists from Carly O’Halloran and Anya Douglas and 10 from middle blocker Worthy Lien.
“I didn’t think we attacked the ball very well, head coach Burt Fuller said.
Lien was also a force offensively, finishing the match with 12 kills and a .379 hitting percentage.
Aggie outside hitter Lisa Borom finished with a match-high 20 kills, but was held to a hitting percentage of .054.
Thanks in large part to its 98-dig effort, USU finished the match with 42 more kill attempts than Cal Poly, only to be offset by the Mustangs dominance blocking the ball.
UCSB 3, USU 0
Behind the hot play of middle blocker Brie Lampe and outside hitter Danielle Bauer, UC Santa Barbara defeated the Aggies 30-13, 30-28, 30-22 on Saturday night in the Thunderdome.
Lampe followed her 20-kill performance in Logan last month with 13 kills, while hitting a whopping .706, while Bauer torched the Aggies with a match-high 17 kills. Between the two of the them, they finished the match with a meager four attack errors on 45 attack attempts.
“We just couldn’t stop either of those two players,” Fuller said. “The kids played hard, but Santa Barbara is always tough at home.”
Saturday’s match was an uphill battle to begin with as the Aggies were already missing Emily Kennedy and Rickie Rigby due to illness. In addition to Kennedy and Rigby, the Aggies were also without the services of Erin Cartwright, who contracted the same illness after the Cal Poly match.
“We were definitely undermanned,” Fuller said.
Despite the Gauchos’ hot play in the first game, the Aggies continued to battle as neither team was able to build a lead bigger than one point for the majority of the game.
UCSB was able to take the first two-point advantage of the game at 26-24, and the Gauchos held on for a 30-28 decision.
The Aggies controlled the early stages of game three, taking a 12-6 lead, only to see the Gauchos close the door by taking 11 of the games final 13 points.
For the match, the Gauchos out-hit the Aggies .289 to .103 and was one of the few teams to out-dig the Aggies this year (63-51).
Senior middle blocker Michelle Matheson was one of the few bright spots for the Aggies, finishing the match with a team-high 12 kills, while hitting .458.