Utah State spikers continue 12-year long losing streak at Crimson Court
SALT LAKE CITY – A 2-0 start against in state opponents was not to be for the Utah State University women’s volleyball team. The Aggies were swept by the No. 22 ranked University of Utah Utes 30-22, 30-23, 30-24 Tuesday night at Crimson Court.
USU (10-11) dropped its third straight match to a Utah (17-6) squad that has now won 29 consecutive matches on its home court.
While Tuesday’s match didn’t affect the Aggies in the Big West Conference standings, USU middle blocker Rickie Rigby said the match has greater
implications.
With home matches against Big West Conference powers Cal Poly and the University of California Santa Barbara looming, Rigby said how USU responds to the loss will determine its success the rest of the season.
“I think this is kind of a crossroads [match],” she said. “Either we go from here, and take a step in the right direction or we can step back and say, ‘OK, forget it,’ which I don’t think this team will do because we’re just too competitive.”
The Aggies certainly came out competitive against the Utes as USU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead against the home team.
Unfortunately for the Aggies, the Utes were able to take control of the game thanks to the play of 6-foot-5 middle blocker Lyndsey Phillips.
Phillips finished the game with a perfect five kills on five attack attempts.
In addition to USU’s inability to stop Phillips, the Aggies were unable to stop Utah from stringing together scoring runs.
The Utes finished the first game with five runs of at least three points. Not allowing themselves to play from behind is an absolute must if the Aggies are to have a chance on the road against a team like Utah, Rigby said.
“We can’t do that to ourselves,” she said. “This week is a huge week for us, and we can ill-afford to do that to
ourselves.”
USU refused to go down without a fight, however.
Three straight Aggie points gave USU life late in the first game, putting them within striking distance (22-19).
However, the Aggies were unable to sustain the momentum as a Tereza Cernianska attacking error and a Utah block put the Utes back in control. Maintaining momentum on the road is something USU needs to establish, said USU Head Coach Burt Fuller.
“We have to learn how to play well in different environments, and we don’t do that yet,” he said.
Up 1-0, the Utes turned to all-Mountain West Conference middle blocker Kim Turner, and she
responded.
The junior picked up two kills and an ace in the game’s first nine points to give Utah a 6-3 lead. Turner was a thorn in USU’s side the entire match as she finished with match-highs in kills (14) and block assists (seven).
“Turner, I don’t if we touched her all night,” Fuller said. “I don’t know where [her] two [attack] errors came from.”
Another Ute who enjoyed a big match was senior outside hitter Sylva Strzinkova.
Strzinkova finished with match highs in digs (15) and hitting percentage (.500), and finished the match with 11 kills.
Despite the play of Turner and Strzinkova, the Aggies continued to battle, scoring three straight points to cut the deficit to 24-22.
USU had a chance to cut the deficit to one, but Turner picked up a solo block, the first of four straight Utah points, putting the game away.
USU’s inability to score at crucial moments of the match was one of the “little things” Rigby said the Aggies need to improve on.
“There were little tiny things that we didn’t take care of,” she said. “We just need to clean up the little things. We talk about it over and over [in practice], we just need to step up and do them.”
Taking care of the little things is something Fuller said will come with experience. After all, the Aggies started three freshmen against a junior and senior-laden Ute squad.
“We’ve got a nice group of kids [and] we’ve got a talented group of kids,” he said. “What they have to learn is when you’re out there playing against a good opponent, and somebody pushes you around, you have to push back.”
For the match, Utah out-hit USU .278-.091, although the Aggies held the Utes to a hitting percentage of .167 in game three.
Middle blocker Erin Cartwright paced the Aggies with 11 kills, while Shauni Fluckiger paced the Aggie defense with nine digs.
Utah State will return to play to Big West Conference action Thursday against Cal Poly.
Earlier this season the Aggies were swept in three games at Cal Poly.
-jasonwturner@cc.usu.edu