Volleyball shuts down Lady Techsters in straight sets
The Utah State women’s volleyball team made quick work of Louisiana Tech University Saturday, sweeping the Lady Techsters in straight sets, 3-0.
Senior All-American Liz McArthur led the Aggies with 11 kills and two service aces, while the Lady Techsters were unable to claim their first Western Athletic Conference win.
“Our entire back line passed really well,” head coach Grayson DuBose said. “Overall it was a very nice match.”
The Aggies started a little slow, falling behind early, 3-1, before settling in and controlling the match.
Leading, 12-9, midway through the first set, USU went on an 8-1 run to open up a 10-point advantage, at 20-10. Utah State cruised from there, as junior outside hitter Josselyn White recorded two kills to finish off the set and give the Aggies the 25-15 win.
“We missed a lot of serves, and a lot of unforced errors,” McArthur said. “We have to clean it up for our next match.”
While neither team played particularly well, Louisiana Tech never really threatened Utah State throughout the first two sets. The Lady Techsters led only once in the first set and never in the second set, while finishing the night with a negative hitting percentage.
Freshman libero Ashlan Rogers had a solid night on defense for the Aggies, as she finished with a team-high 10 digs. It was the ninth time Rogers, who has played in 22 matches in her first year at USU, has recorded double-digit kills.
“I don’t think we were very focused,” Rogers said. “I think we were just going super fast, and we needed to take our time. It kind of became a disease after awhile.”
USU started quickly in the second set, and after McArthur’s third kill of the set, the Aggies led, 13-7. Louisiana Tech used a 4-0 run to crawl back to within three, but the Lady Techsters were unable to slow down the Aggie offense.
Plagued by errors, Louisiana Tech finished the second set the same way it did in the first — with an error. Utah State took the set, 25-17.
Junior outside hitter Shay Sorensen added plenty of offensive help for McArthur, recording six kills on the night. Sorensen also caused Louisiana Tech plenty of problems on defense, finishing with three block assists and only one blocking error.
Louisiana Tech took its second lead of the match to start the third set, and they weren’t going to be swept quietly. Getting help from five of the Aggies’ 14 total service errors, the Lady Techsters fought to a 14-14 tie, before Utah State would take the lead for good.
Sophomore outside hitter Tamua Entimani came up with a big block to put the set away, and the Aggies completed the sweep, 25-22.
With the win, Utah State improves to 6-5 in WAC play, and 11-13 on the year. The Lady Techsters fall to a WAC-worst, 0-10, while dropping to 9-18 on the season.
The Aggies travel to Orem this week to play a non-conference match against the Wolverines of Utah Valley University Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. USU then returns home for Senior Night, playing host to Idaho University Nov. 5 at 7 p.m.
“We want to get a lot of momentum going into the conference tournament,” DuBose said. “So that we’re confident and can move forward.”
– curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu