Volleyball suffers upset loss at home to Spartans
The fast start is fast-fading for the Aggie volleyball team.
San Jose State (7-11, 2-2 WAC) shocked the USU crowd and the Aggie team as the Spartens dealt the 13-3, 1-2 WAC Aggies a four-set defeat (25-23, 25-20, 13-25, 25-16) Saturday night.
After beginning the season with an 11-0 overall record, the third-best start in school history, the Aggies have lost three of their last five matches.
Freshman outside hitter Hanah Blume had 15 kills and 16 digs while hitting .289 to lead the Spartans, aided by sophomore setter Caitlin Andrade, who had 39 assists in the contest.
USU junior Liz McArthur had 19 kills and hit .216 to lead the Aggies. Setter Chelsea Fowles tallied 43 assists, and libero Christine Morrill nabbed 20 digs.
According to McArthur, the Aggies may have overlooked their conference foes.
“I don’t want to say we overlooked them, but maybe we weren’t expecting them to be as powerful as they were,” McArthur said.
Aggie head coach Grayson DuBose provided a simple formula for the cause of the stunner.
“They played great, and we didn’t,” he said. “We had our chances to play really well, but didn’t answer the bell at all. That’s really disappointing.”
After SJSU won the first two sets behind 11 kills from Blume, the Aggies showed signs of a comeback in a third set highlighted by eight kills from McArthur and fueled by 9-2 and 7-1 runs.
However, USU’s hope of rallying against SJSU was stopped cold in the fourth set behind an early 10-2 Spartan run, as well as a 6-1 streak to end the match.
“In that last set, I didn’t feel like we were playing as a team, and if we don’t play as a team, we’re not going to win,” McArthur said.
The Spartans beat the Aggies in several categories, including sideouts (48-46), assists (47-46), digs (57-55) and team blocks (11-9.5).
“A lot of teams will underestimate us because of our season last year (a dismal 1-27 campaign), but we caught (USU) off-guard. They had some good things going for them, but it didn’t matter because we were controlling our side,” Blume said.
Andrade said the SJSU coaches extensively prepared for the match for the purpose of establishing that very control, particularly with the ball on offense.
“Our coaches definitely scouted them very well, so we knew exactly what they were going to do with regards to what they were going to run,” she said. “We shifted our defense a bit and focused on the blocks.”
Additionally, the adjustments that SJSU have made to play above .500 ball since slipping to 0-5 on Sept. 2 have been more than on-court adjustments.
“We’ve made a lot of mental changes. We’ve been working on keeping our confidence level up, and we should have all the confidence because we’re a really good team. Now we know we can beat any team,” Andrade said.
In the surprise victory, SJSU head coach Oscar Crespo said he recognized his team’s win as one that can be a springboard for the rest of their season.
“Definitely (this) is a game where we can reach back knowing that we can win on the road, that we can play our style, so it’s a great confidence-builder for us,” he said.
Despite the victory, Crespo remained complimentary of the Aggies.
“They’re a very strong team,” he said. “We have a lot of respect for them. Before the game and even now, I think they’re a very strong team. I think that tonight they might not have played their best game against us. I don’t know if that was lack of energy. We were prepared for a long battle. I know that they’re going to bounce out of this strong.”
Despite the compliment, DuBose said there weren’t many positives to take away from the defeat.
“It’s tough for me to find one right now,” he said. “I’m disappointed with how we came out. I’m disappointed with how we performed. (SJSU) played great. All credit to them. But we didn’t, and that’s discouraging.”
McArthur said the performance hinged largely on the absence of energy on behalf of USU.
“We were working and playing hard, but we didn’t have the energy to play with,” she said. “(Energy) is what makes us a good team, and we didn’t have that tonight.”
The recent pattern of losses is now to the point where it looks as though the Aggies are slumping.
“It feels a little bit like (a slump), with the lack of energy, but hopefully learning from that can help us in our next matches,” McArthur said,
DuBose said the squad needs to stay true to what helped them develop such a blazing start.
“I don’t want to make any knee-jerk reactions or a bunch of changes, but we need to make sure we’re playing our game,” He said.
He also said he was disappointed with the fact that SJSU aced the Aggies six times.
“It was a matter of energy. We didn’t have enough enthusiasm,” he said. “We’re not going to scare anybody off (the court), so we’ve got to come out and play hard every time.”
That next opportunity comes for the Aggies this Wednesday at 8 p.m. when the Aggies travel to Idaho. The match will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
– rhett.wilkinson@aggiemail.usu.edu