Volleyball gets second win in conference
It was a split weekend for the Utah State volleyball team, dropping their first match Friday to Cal State Fullerton, but coming back Saturday night for the win against UC Riverside.
“It was a good weekend for us,” head coach Burt Fuller said.
Carolyn Forbush led the way for the Ags this weekend, leading all players Friday with 19 kills and tallying up 18 kills Saturday against the Highlanders.
“She had a good weekend,” Fuller said. “She played very aggressively. We’ve been working with her, and she was able to put it all together this weekend.”
Coming into the match against Fullerton, the Aggies had won the last nine matches against the Titans. However, they were not able to extend their winning streak, falling in five games.
One thing Fuller said hurt the team against Fullerton was the absence of junior middle Ingrid Roth. She was out for the weekend with a sprained knee. Because the other experienced middle blocker, Erin Graybill was also out with an injury, the Ags had two freshmen in at middle, something they struggled with.
“We had two new middles in and it took a while for us to adjust to that,” Fuller said.
USU showed it had trouble adjusting, dropping its first two matches to the Titans, but it came back strong and was able to win the next two games, putting the team in the position to win, Fuller said. But the Titans were able to get an early lead and hold onto it, winning the fifth game and the match.
By the numbers, the Ags should have won the match easily. They led the Titans in kills. Forbush had 19, Zuzana Cernianska and Amanda Orgill each had 17. The Titans’ Sarah Morrison led the way for their team with 15 kills.
However, the Aggies had trouble on serve receives, giving Fullerton 12 aces for the night.
Saturday night, Utah State wasn’t about to drop another winnable match. After dropping the first game against Riverside 24-30, the Aggies came out on fire and picked up wins in the next two games.
Cernianska led four Aggies in double-digit kills with 24. Other players in double-digits included Forbush and Orgill. They each had 18 for the offense while freshman Amanda Fahnestock added 13 kills.
“We didn’t do anything a whole lot different [against Riverside],” Fuller said. “We made a few adjustments. [Keslie] Thoman, our libero played on the outside and [Monarisa] Ale and Fahnestock played well on the back row.”
He added that the team was able to play well after the first game. During game three, the Ags were down late in the game, but Fuller said that they had a nice comeback and were able to win 31-29. However, he added that the Highlanders did the same thing in game four.
“In game five, we were able to get up early,” Fuller said. “Game five goes so fast that whoever gets the first points really gets the win.”
The Aggies, now 2-7 in conference play, next face Idaho at home at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Spectrum.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu