Heated rivalry ends in Aggie loss
In case you were wondering, there is a good reason the BYU Cougars volleyball team is ranked 19th in the nation.
They showed it to 749 fans at the Spectrum Tuesday night as they out-hit the Utah State Aggies .291 to .115 and swept them, 3-0 (32-30, 30-18, 30-26).
The Aggies (5-5) were very close to taking game one away from their rival from the south, even one point away from it. But BYU’s 6-foot-4 middle blocker LIndsy Hartsock recorded a kill that was followed by two more points to take game one and the air out of the Aggies.
The Cougars (8-1) out-hit the Aggies .621 to .147 in the second frame.
“With our young team, we have to be better under pressure than we are,” Aggie head coach Grayson DuBose said. “That’s the thing that stands out most in my mind. Under pressure BYU got better, and we didn’t…Little errors here and there bite you in the butt a little bit.”
Even so, the Aggies did come into game one with an energy that helped them keep the lead for the majority of the game against a prominent opponent.
USU middle blocker Melissa Larson hit an impressive .333 in the first period of play.
“I really don’t know what happened between game one and game two, but we definitely came down,” said Larson, who recorded a season-hgh nine kills, three digs, and a .471 hitting percentage. “We started game two not like we should have. We were just all. . . I don’t know. We were just excited (in game one and then had a letdown).”
The Cougars quickly took the game-two lead, at one point leading by as many as twelve.
Hartsock, along with teammates Rachel Dyer and Erica Lott, combined in game two for 14 kills.
“We kind of had a letdown,” DuBose said. “That’s the hallmark of a young team.”
The third game started much like the second. The Aggies fell behind by as many as five (3-8) early. But a kill by outside hitter Monarisa Ale sparked a 5-0 run that helped the Aggies capture a 13-12 lead.
Larson, Ale, and freshman outside hitter Hailey Jeppson were the catalysts of a run a few minutes later that gave the Aggies an 18-14 lead.
It was neck-and-neck the remainder of the final game, but the Cougars had enough to pull away.
Nielson recorded a team-high 12 kills for USU, to go along with eight digs and three blocks, while Jeppson added nine kills and five digs.
BYU’s Chelsea Goodman tallied 12 kills, 13 digs, and three blocks. Dyer had 14 kills, eight digs, and hit a very efficient .650 on the night. Lott recorded 12 kills, four digs, and five blocks.
Their height advantage gave the Aggies fits.
Aside from Dyer, Lott, who leads her team with a .352 hitting average and nearly five kills per game, stands 6 foot 1 inches.
“I think that challenged Utah State and got us out of some situations that were not progressing well for us,” BYU head coach Jason Watson said.
“We have a lot of respect for Grayson and his team. He is doing an outstanding job here at Utah State. So, it’s not a surprise we had to battle the way we did this evening. They created a lot of pressure for us.”
The Aggies are now 0-2 against teams in the top 25 this season. The other loss came at Utah last Friday.
BYU has won six of the last nine matches against USU.
Obviously the Aggies are searching for positives after a closely-contested game against one of the nation’s best volleyball programs.
“We as a team help get each other fired up about it,” Larson said. “We’re really unified. We help each other. We pick each other up. We improve everyday. This game helps us improve tons more, I think.”
sbhislop@cc.usu.edu