Ag spikers slide in Big West standings
The Utah State University women’s volleyball team wrapped up the first half of its Big West Conference schedule Saturday, falling on the road to California State University Northridge.
The four-game loss (32-30, 27-30, 30-16, 30-26) drops the Aggies to 9-10 overall and 3-6 in the Big West while Northridge improves to 9-8 and 4-5.
“This is a team failure for us tonight,” said USU Head Coach Burt Fuller in a phone interview following the match.
In the first game, the Aggies fell behind 11-5, but were able to fight back to a 26-23 lead before Northridge pulled out the win.
“We started poorly, but did a nice job of fighting back,” Fuller said. “We came out in the second game and played a lot
better.”
In the game, Utah State’s lone win, the score remained close until the Aggies went up five points, 29-24, and were able to hang on for the win.
The third game wasn’t close. The Matadors jumped up 14-7 and coasted to the 30-16 win.
“The third game, I don’t have any explanation for,” Fuller said. “We came out flat.”
Utah State took a late lead, 25-23, in the fourth game, but Fuller said the Aggies missed serves down the stretch and couldn’t recover.
The Matadors were led by a trio of outside hitters. Jennifer McNees had 20 kills, Erica Aere had 18 and Heather Kirby picked up 16.
On the outside for the Aggies, the numbers weren’t as good. Shauni Fluckiger picked up two kills, Jenna Jordan had five and Zuzana Cernianska added five, but all three had a negative hitting percentage. Tereza Cernianska was the lone Aggie outside hitter with a positive percentage, hitting .067 with nine kills.
“With three hitters on the pins hitting negative, there is not much we can accomplish,” Fuller said. “We’re not going to win with negative numbers on the outside.
The Aggies did have one bright spot, though. Fuller said the middle blockers performed very well.
Middle blocker Erin Cartwright led all players with 23 kills and .541 hitting. She also added seven blocks. Middle blocker Ingrid Roth had 10 kills while hitting .318.
“We had tremendous success in the middle,” Fuller said. “[Cartwright] is consistently putting up good numbers. Ingrid Roth has come in as a freshman and given us good performances the last couple of weeks. That’s encouraging.”
After facing every team in the conference once, Fuller said the Aggies have the talent to compete, they just need to focus on playing better on their side.
“We need to play more carefree,” he said. “There’s not a whole lot we can change. We just need to do it better.”
-slbk5@cc.usu.edu