Spikers pack bacgs for California
Following three straight victories at the Spectrum, the Utah State University women’s volleyball team is hoping momentum will carry over when the Aggies hit the road for matches against California State University at Northridge and the University of the Pacific.
The Aggies (14-7, 9-3 in the Big West Conference) played Northridge on Thursday at 8 p.m. and will take the court against No. 17 Pacific on Saturday at 8 p.m.
During its last road trip, the Aggies dropped three straight matches and were zapped by an illness in which three players missed at least one match while recuperating.
Unlike that trip, USU Head Coach Burt Fuller said the team is, for the most part, healthy and physically rejuvenated.
“I think they feel rejuvenated,” he said. “They feel they are a lot more refreshed.”
With the exception of junior middle blocker Hailey MacKay, the Aggies are as healthy as they should expect to be this far along in the season, Fuller said.
MacKay has been hampered with a knee injury, but played well in limited playing time in the Aggies’ last match against Weber State University, hitting .500 with eight kills.
MacKay sat out the previous match against the University of California, Riverside.
“Hopefully some of that rest [for MacKay] will pay off against Northridge and Pacific,” Fuller said.
When the Aggies take the court against the Tigers, they’ll attempt to do something only one other team has done at the Spanos Center this year – win.
Pacific (20-7 overall, 11-3 in league play) suffered its only home loss to undefeated and No. 1 ranked Long Beach State University.
As daunting of a task as this might be, USU has already beaten UOP this year, snapping a 19-match losing streak against the Tigers with a 3-2 victory in the Spectrum last month.
In that match, the Aggies held the second-best hitting team in the conference (.259 on the year) to a hitting percentage of .199 and collected a season-high 98 digs.
Not only did the Aggies hold the potent Tiger attack in check, they had five players who finished the match with 10 or more kills, led by Shauni Fluckiger’s 23 spikes.
The Tigers are led by sophomore Jennifer Joines, a second-team All-American last year. Joines is top in the Big West in kills (460) and ranks second in blocks per game with 1.50.
Following USU’s match with Weber State, Fuller said the Aggies are back on track and playing the caliber of volleyball that allowed them to beat BYU and Pacific earlier in the season.
“We’re playing better again. We’re getting good hitting numbers,” he said. “We’re doing the things again that we were doing when we were winning some pretty good matches. I’m happy about that.”