Volleyball team splits on road trip, wins second match of year
Utah State won the battle of the Aggies Saturday in California against UC Davis, beating the California team in four games 22-30, 30-28, 30-15 and 30-11.
Junior Zuzana Cernianska led the way for USU with a season-high 29 kills and a .418 hitting percentage.
“Zuzana attacked very well,” Utah State Head Coach Burt Fuller said. “She tried to carry us through the match.”
The weekend started out with a loss to Idaho on Thursday. The team came out strong and took the first game 30-24, but it was unable to be consistent and fell to the Vandals in the next three games 25-30, 25-30, 23-30.
The Aggies hit only .170 in their first game against the Vandals, but they were able to hold on for the win. USU was unable to keep up with the Idaho team in the next three games and fell to 1-7 for the season and 0-3 in the conference.
The Aggies were, however, able to rebound from their seventh loss of the season and were able to pull out their second win.
“We came out pretty good,” Fuller said, “then got a little flat. [UC Davis] started playing inspired defense.”
Utah State had an early lead in the first game against the California Aggies, going up 12-5. But UCD turned on their offense and fought for the win. After tying the game at 15, Davis took control of the game with an 8-0 run.
In game two, USU once again had an early lead, jumping out to 9-5, but UCD wasn’t going to give it up easily. Once again, late in the game, Davis rallied and tied the game at 20. However, Utah State, led by three kills from Cernianska, pulled ahead and scraped out a win.
Games three and four were hardly even a contest for the Utah Aggies.
“I think we wore them down in games three and four,” Fuller said.
In game four, Utah State dominated in its serving, with Ingrid Roth and Carolyn Forbush serving up seven and nine points respectively.
Freshman Amanda Orgill was a strong presence on the offense for Utah State, recording 11 kills and seven blocks for the Ags.
“[Orgill] is a really athletic player,” Fuller said. “She didn’t have a real good offensive game at first [against Idaho], but she was blocking. [Against UC Davis,] she had both.”
Four Utah State Aggies had double-digit digs, led by sophomore Kelsi Thoman with 19.
USU ended the game with a total of 14 blocks, led by seven from Orgill and five from Roth.
Utah State returns home to face BYU Tuesday in the Spectrum. Fuller said the team will be working on handling the ball before they faceoff against the Cougers.
After BYU the Aggies will be on the road again, traveling to California to take on the No. 18 Long Beach State 49ers and the UC Irvine Anteaters Friday and Saturday.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu