Disappointing finish for USU volleyball team
It’s over.
That’s about all that can be said about the Utah State volleyball team’s three-game loss to Arizona in the first round of the NCAA tournament Friday night in Salt Lake City.
The loss knocked the Aggies out of the tournament and ended their season earlier than they had hoped.
But USU isn’t so much disappointed the season is over, it is disappointed at how the season ended.
“There is no shame in losing to Arizona, not this year,” Utah State Head Coach Burt Fuller said. “They’re good. They’re probably going to go a long way.
“Our disappointment is that we wanted to give our friends and family a little bit better showing and maybe represent the [Western Athletic Conference] a little bit better, as the second-place team in the WAC, than we did tonight.”
For an injury-ridden team that finished 9-18 last season, the turnaround this season very nearly became a Cinderella story for the Aggies. They finished second in a new conference and went to the NCAA tournament for only the third time in school history.
Senior Zuzana Cernianska is at the top of the Aggie record books in all-time kills, single-season kills and games played. She also was in the top 10 in several other areas at Utah State. Erin Graybill, also a senior, set a new single-season blocking record. Kelsi Peterson broke her own school record in digs.
Not bad.
“I told our team in the locker room that we had a very good season,” Fuller said. “A good turnaround from a 9-18 season last year with a lot of injuries. We were one of 33 teams that were selected out of a remaining approximately 295 teams selected to play in this tournament. We appreciate the committee’s decision on that.”
But, despite the improved season, the Aggies just couldn’t put one more match together. Fuller said a lot of it had to do with a very good Arizona team, as well as his athletes not having NCAA experience – something Arizona is not lacking. And it showed.
“They’re really an athletic team,” senior Ingrid Roth said. “We did what we could. It was really good competition. Kind of a wake up call to show what kind of competition goes into this tournament and what you have to do to be successful.”
From the beginning of the match, the Aggies seemed unable to do very much to stop the fourth-seeded Arizona Wildcats.
In each of the three games, Arizona was able to jump out to an early lead, leaving the Aggies behind from the start.
“We knew Arizona is very good,” Cernianska said. “We always wanted to start from the beginning. But we didn’t and it’s hard to catch up.”
The Wildcat defense was able to all but shut down All-WAC player Cernianska. The senior had only five kills in her final match playing as an Aggie. Graybill led the way for the Aggies with 12 kills. No other USU players were able to get to double digits.
Fuller said part of the problem for the Aggies was Arizona’s serving. USU had difficulty receiving the server and getting good passing opportunities, making it fairly easy for Arizona to get the block. The Wildcats had 10 more blocks than the Aggies for the night, 15-5.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu
Aggies Jessica Chick, Kelsi Peterson and Zuzana Cernianska wait for Arizona to serve the ball in the first round of the NCAA tournament.