Volleyball wraps up homestand with five-set win over LMU
Women’s volleyball wrapped up a three-game homestand on Saturday, beating Loyola Marymount in five sets.
The Lions (2-3), members of the West Coast Conference, came into the contest having played a tough non-conference slate to begin their season. Saturday’s match was their first that was not decided in three sets. They swept Long Beach State and Weber State and were swept by #1 Texas and #9 BYU. The Lions are unranked but received 20 votes in the most recent AVCA rankings, appearing as high as 13 on one ballot.
“I have so much respect for the coaching staff at LMU. They’re talented, they’re physical, they play the game the right way and they’re tough,” said head coach Rob Nielson. “So for them to come into this environment and play as well as they did. Hats off to them.”
The teams exchanged blows early in the first set with the Aggies eventually taking a 6-5 lead off a kill by outside hitter Jill Shneggenburger. They would never concede that lead, winning the set 25-16.
The Lions never trailed in the second set, jumping out to a 2-0 lead with an ace by Kari Geissberger. The Aggies put up a fight, but ultimately could not overcome their six service errors in the set. They would draw within two on consecutive kills by Adna Mehmedovic and Kennedi Boyd, but would ultimately concede the set 25-17.
The third set was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams struggling for a side-out. The Aggies eventually found themselves down 18-15 when coach Nielson took a timeout. His team responded by rattling off five straight points, to which Loyola Marymount head coach Trent Kersten took his own timeout. His lions brought themselves within one until Adna Mehmedovic managed to return the ball with her foot. The nifty footwork kept the momentum with the Aggies, who would win the set 25-20.
The fourth set played out similarly to the second, with the service woes returning for the Aggies. They kept it tight throughout but conceded five points on service errors. A 4-0 run would cap it off for the Lions, who won 25-18.
Set five did not start the way the Aggies wanted. The Lions jumped out to a 3-0 lead and for a brief moment quieted what was otherwise an extremely hostile Club Estes crowd. The crowd was right back in it when Senior setter Isabella Bareford’s serve crashed into the net, igniting an Aggie scoring run to tie it up.
Coach Nielson burned his last timeout to calm his team down after the Lions went up 13-12. The Aggies responded with a three-point run capped off by an ace from sophomore setter Leah Wilton-LaBoy to win 15-13.
“As soon as I saw it go over the net, I knew,” said Wilton-Laboy. “At that point with how close the match was and how good they are, I was mostly just [trying] to get it in and control the ball, but it worked out.”
The Aggies will hit the road for two games against schools in the Lone Star state. In their next two contests, they will take on Texas A&M and TCU in College Station, Texas. Their return to the Wayne Estes Center will come on Sept. 16, when they host BYU.