Aggies pick up first WAC win
The Utah State Aggie volleyball team opened Western Athletic Conference play with a 3-game win (30-24, 30-27, 30-21) over the New Mexico State Aggies Thursday night at the Spectrum.
Senior Erin Graybill lead a balanced attack for USU hitting for .545 and 14 kills.
“She’s been putting up really good numbers lately,” coach Burt Fuller said. “We felt as though there were some things with that team that we could exploit with her and it worked to our favor.”
Senior Zuzana Cernianska also recorded double-digit kills with 11.
Although USU finished the match in three games, the match was by no means a blowout.
“That match was close throughout,” Fuller said. “We’re very fortunate and very happy to win that one.”
USU led by no more than six throughout the entire match until a 6-1 run finished it off.
New Mexico State entered the contest 6-1 on the year and was riding two seasons of undefeated conference play.
Their first game in the WAC proved to be the end of that streak.
“They’re going to continue to improve. We have to continue to improve to keep up with them and the rest of the conference. We’re really happy to start off this conference with a win against a quality team,” Fuller said.
“They’re a very good team,” senior outside hitter Beth Hodge said. “It feels really nice to get our first [conference win].”
USU was also playing its first Western Athletic Conference match.
There will be more to come. Utah State will face Louisiana Tech Saturday at the Spectrum. They will then hit the road next week to face Boise State and Idaho.
“We’re looking forward to contributing in the WAC,” Fuller said. “We’re going to focus for Louisiana Tech. Boise State is solid. We know how good Idaho is. They’re not new to us.
“That’s another tough conference weekend. There are no easy matches in the WAC.”
-bwalker@cc.usu.edu