Women’s volleyball defeats Nevada, earns first sweep of the season
The Utah State volleyball team showed one of its strongest performances of the season Saturday night, sweeping Nevada in three sets to earn their fifth victory of the year and even up the season series with the Wolfpack at one a piece.
From the first whistle, the Aggies were poised to end this match as quickly as they could.
The first set saw Utah State make a lot of effort plays as they traded points back and forth with Nevada. Some great digs by USU senior libero Tasia Taylor kept the scoring chances alive, which resulted in 14 kills for the Aggies in the first frame. However, Nevada kept it close and matched Utah State’s 14 kills in the first set, which led to 14 tie scores throughout the set.
USU Sophomore outside hitter Gabbi Shumway was a key contributor to the Aggies’ success, despite coming off an illness which kept her out of Thursday’s match with San Jose State. She tallied six kills in the first set alone to lead Utah State to a 25-23 win.
The second set was a turning point in the match as Utah State built off good team chemistry from the first set and had an even better one that saw the Aggies total 15 kills and three blocks, as they outscored Nevada 25-19.
Every time Nevada tried to pull closer and went on a small run, Utah State would counter with a crucial block or kill that took the air out of Nevada’s respective sails. Some of the key kills came from two dynamic freshman, outside hitter Whitney Solosabal and middle blocker Corinne Larsen, who combined for nearly half of the Aggies’ kills in the frame.
Being one of the leaders in the team, Shumway shared a little insight into why her team had such great chemistry on the night.
“Bouncing back just really depends on our attitude and how we communicate with each other and just our relationships,” she said. “I think we just did a really good job of staying relaxed and that made a big difference.”
When the fatigue of a hard-fought game started to set in, it was in the Aggies’ favor that the match ended in three sets. When it became difficult for USU to pull through towards the end of the third set, Utah State head coach Grayson DuBose still had confidence in his team, knowing they would keep their heads in the game.
“One of the big mantras we’ve had for a long time is just take care of the next ball and really that’s the only thing we can control,” DuBose said.
Utah State had just seven kills in the final frame and recorded six errors.
Although Utah State didn’t have its best set, the Aggies still pulled through with a 25-22 win and secured the three set sweep over conference foe Nevada, a much needed victory for the Aggies.
“All of them are valuable,” DuBose said of what it means for his squad to earn a win. “(Talking to former USU men’s basketball coach) Stu Morrill when I first started here at Utah State, I was unhappy after we had kind of a nice win and he goes, ‘you’re too young to think that they’re easy to come by.’ And I thought that was a pretty good piece of advice and so I’ve tried to adopt that mantra myself.”
As the Aggies try to build on their 5-18 record and look to continue to stay in good form, they will travel to take on San Diego State on Thursday, Nov. 1. This should prove to be an important matchup of teams which both desperately need wins late in the season.