49ers leave Ags in sand
With the loss of three All-Americans to graduation, it is easy to think this might be somewhat of a rebuilding year for the Long Beach State University women’s volleyball team.
Just don’t say that to Rickie Rigby and the rest of the Utah State University women’s volleyball team.
Led by All-American candidates Brittany Hochevar and Elisha Thomas, No. 6 LBSU scored the first three points of game one and never looked back en route to a 3-0 (30-19, 30-21, 30-24) victory over the Aggies Saturday night at the Spectrum.
“They’re always going to have a solid program,” Rigby said. “People say this is the worst Long Beach team in years. Well, it’s still pretty good.”
Although the Niners (10-0, 2-0 in the Big West Conference) swept their seventh opponent of the year, the Aggies refused to go down without a fight.
Playing two days after dropping a 3-1 match against the University of California Irvine, the Aggies came out strong in the third game.
A kill and an ace apiece by Aggie sisters Zuzana and Tereza Cerninaska helped stake the Aggies a 6-1 advantage to open the third game. Unfortunately for USU, three straight Aggie service errors and strong Niner serving from Hochevar proved to be too much to overcome.
Trailing 6-2, the 49ers turned to Hochevar, the nation’s leader in aces per game a year ago, and Hochevar would respond. LBSU would score six straight points on Hochevar’s serve to take a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
“She’s consistent [on her serve], and that’s what makes it tough,” Fuller said.
Hochevar was a thorn in USU’s side in all aspects of the match as she finished with a match-high 27 assists, while hitting a match-high .692. The senior setter was also a force defensively with two of LBSU’s four solo blocks.
Nevertheless, the Aggies still had a chance to force a fourth game thanks in large part to the blocking of middle blockers Rigby and Stacy Kartchner.
Two straight combination blocks by Rigby and Kartchner, followed by a combination block by Rigby and Erin Cartwright a few points later, cut the 49er lead to 21-17, and brought the Aggie fans to their feet.
However, the window of opportunity was shut in a hurry as three straight USU service errors ended any hope of a comeback.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re playing the number six team in the country or the 600th team in the country, you can’t miss three serves in a row,” Fuller said. “But, we did rattle them a little bit.”
Perhaps more importantly then rattling the 49ers and holding them to an atrocious .000 attacking percentage in the third game, the Aggies were able to gel as a team, Rigby said.
“It was a lot better than Thursday [against UC Irvine],” she said. “Even with a loss, it felt like we were coming together as a team more, and we were playing as a team more.”
It was the 49ers who were able to execute well as a team in the early going, though. Paced by five kills piece from Thomas (five kills in five attempts) and Kessie Doering, Long Beach hit a whopping .500 in its 30-19 game one victory.
The Aggie defense was able to bog down more in the second game, holding LBSU to a .312 hitting percentage. However, four 49er runs of at least three points gave it a 2-0 match lead.
While the Aggies defense was up to task, so was the 49er defense. Thomas, who finished with a team-high 10 kills and a match-high six block assists, led a 49er defense that held USU to a hitting percentage of .038.
For the match, the 49ers outblocked the Aggies 15-8.
Both USU and LBSU finished with 25 digs apiece as the match featured several long rallies. Although USU came up short on the majority of these rallies, it was an encouraging sign against a team like Long Beach, said senior outside hitter/libero Shauni Fluckiger.
“I think that’s just going come with time and experience, and making smart plays as a team,” she said.
For the Aggies, Tereza Cernianska finished with a match-high 11 kills, but also had 12 attack errors. Zuzana Cernianska and Erin Cartwright added eight and seven spikes, respectively. Kartchner and Rigby paced the Aggie defense with four and three blocks apiece.
“We’re happy with the effort, [but] I still think we can play better than what we did,” Fuller said. “We have to play better; we have to get a conference win.”