USU Volleyball falls to Boise State 3-1 on Thursday

Boise State defeated Utah State in volleyball 3-1 on Thursday evening in the Wayne Estes Center. Boise State won the first set 27-25, with USU giving up 2 service errors in the last 5 points of the set. The second set also went to the Broncos, 25-18. Utah State returned from a five-point deficit to win the third set 28-26. Even after a strong showing by USU, Boise State sealed the victory with a win in the fourth set, 25-21.  

USU head volleyball coach Keith Smith was disappointed by the loss.  

“Boise is a good team. They play really hard, and to add to the defense, their serve is really, really tough, and we came out early on and struggled with it,” Smith said. “They put us in some not-so-great situations and let their blockers be big and aggressive. They did a lot of good things to make it difficult for us, and we didn’t handle it very well.”  

Speaking about the service errors, Smith pointed out that USU had some great improvement from previous games.  

“I think we actually served more in than we have,” Smith said. “We made it up to 92% in, which we’ve been in the mid-80s.” 

The game was not without its wins. Utah State outside hitter Olivia Ruy had 20 kills, leading the team. Ruy was recently named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week.  

“Well deserved, man. She’s a rock star,” Smith said on the achievement. “If you don’t know her as a human, she’s a rock star human and a very, very good volleyball player. She more than deserved it last week.”  

Smith had great things to say about many of his players, despite the disappointing result.  

“Olivia Ruy and Sami Blackett were awesome from the get-go. They did a lot of really good things,” Smith said. “Ava Nakai came in off the bench and did a really nice job, and Solia [Angilau] offensively struggled a little bit when she came in, but did a really good job getting touches and getting blocks. She made it harder for their offense to get going.” 

Blackett is a junior outside hitter from Orem, Utah. Nakai plays outside hitter, coming to Utah State from Spanish Fork, Utah. Angilau is a middle blocker from South Jordan, Utah, who had three blocks in the game. With so many Utah natives on the team, this year’s Aggie volleyball team is tied for the most Utahns on the roster since 2007. This year’s team features 10 Aggies from the Beehive State, the same number the team had in 2008 and 2009, according to Utah State Athletics. 

Looking forward, Smith is optimistic about his team’s spot in the Pac-12. 

“I still think we got some room to grow, and I have an optimistic outlook that we could be the best offensive team in the conference for the last half of the season,” Smith said. “That’s the goal to get to that. I think we’re at a spot where we’re doing a lot of really good things. We got a few things that are big that we got to clean up, but they can be cleaned up.” 

The Aggies are on the road next week as they take on San Diego State in San Diego on Oct. 15.