Aggie club team handles UVU in tournament
Many people know about the Utah State women’s volleyball team, with its talented, record-breaking players. And although the number is growing, fewer people know about the men’s club volleyball team, which competes with other club teams from universities in and around the state. The men opened their season at home in the HPER this last weekend against club teams from the University of Utah and Utah Valley University. Also competing in the tournament was the Utah State Alumni team and a club team from Utah County of elite high school players.
The men’s volleyball team was split into an A team and a B team, opening tournament play against Utah Valley’s B team and the Utah State Alumni, respectively. The B team lost their match against the more experienced alumni team, and then went on to lose to the UVU B team in the consolation bracket.
The A team, seeded number three going into tournament play, handled sixth seeded UVU-B to move on to face the Alumni. While they did give up two games against the Alumni, failing to avenge the B team’s loss, they had the opportunity for a rematch with UVU-B, which had just beat the Aggies’ B team. The A team strung together two solid games of 25-20 and 25-12 to knock the UVU Wolverines out of the consolation bracket and get a little revenge on behalf of their B team brethren.
The consolation championship game against the University of Utah saw two of the hardest fought matches of the whole tournament go Utah’s way in the end. The first set saw the score tied 11 times, although Utah State maintained a slight edge for much of the contest, until a few consecutive errors at the end. In the second set, Utah was in the driver’s seat for most of the way, with Utah State relatively close on their heels midway through when the score was 13-7. Utah then picked up momentum and went on a 10-5 run to make it 23-12, before sealing the deal at 25-14. Utah State’s performance earned them fourth place in the tournament.
Utah State’s Alumni team danced all the way to the championship game versus the Utah County Elites. They lost two grudge matches to the talented high-school age club players, who were crowned tournament champions.
Coach Shantell Durrant, senior middle blocker for the Aggie women’s volleyball team, was optimistic about the outlook for her team.
“I’m happy with how we played this early in the season,” Durrant said. “It’s nice to play against another school’s team, since we’ve just been playing against ourselves lately. Near the end we just started getting tired and it didn’t end up the way we wanted.”
For Durrant and the team, this tournament served as a learning experience and a springboard into the rest of the season. Upcoming tournaments for the men include a trip to the University of Utah this upcoming Friday and Saturday, followed by another tournament at Southern Utah the next week.
“We played well,” libero Jared Minson said after the consolation championship. “Right now we’re kind of working some of the kinks out.” The amount of volleyball experience accrued by much of the team is sure to hasten the sharpening of the Aggie ax. Minson said he has been playing volleyball for about eight years, along with teammate Miles Maynes, who has been playing for a similar amount of time. A-team member Jeff Merrell has been playing volleyball since he was 11 years old. Look for these spike-hungry Aggies to make waves across the state this season.
– mike.rees@aggiemail.usu.edu