A look at the upcoming USU volleyball season
Despite being caught up in a few road bumps on the way to their first tournament of the season at Oregon State University, Utah State’s women’s volleyball team and head coach Grayson DuBose are satisfied with their performance and look forward to the season ahead of them.
The Aggies went 0-3 overall in the tournament, losing 3-2 to Oregon State on Friday and then losing 3-0 to Seattle and Portland in a doubleheader on Saturday. However, multiple records were posted by the Aggies including senior Hannah Gleason’s continuing her 12-game streak in double digit kills and junior Lauren Andersen getting into double digit kills for the second time in a row. The team as a whole out-played their first opponent, Oregon State, in kills, hitting percentage, assists, service aces and digs despite an unfortunate outcome in a deciding set.
According to freshman Jaysa Funk, the tournament and trip to Oregon was an opportunity for team growth and bonding.
“All of the girls are so nice,” Funk said. “We all work hard, so it’s fun to be a part of that environment.”
Although the Aggies have a good dynamic as a team, Dubose noticed a few areas for improvement throughout the tournament.
“We didn’t defend very well and we need to be a bit better with our blocking percentage,” DuBose said. “We’ll start figuring that stuff out as we head into the season.”
He noted finishing the season in the top third of the conference, a huge improvement from last year’s 2-16 conference finish, would be a successful season he could be proud of.
The Aggies will head to Denver, Colorado this weekend to play in the Pioneer Invitational.
They will open at home against UC Riverside at the USU Invitational on Sept. 8 at 12 p.m and will continue until 1 p.m. on Sept. 9.
The Aggies will take a road trip and not return to Logan until Sept. 29 when they face Colorado State.
They will have a four-game home streak starting Oct. 13 through Oct. 22.
Conference play will continue through November where the Aggies will face San Jose State and Weber State at the end of the month.