Ag spikers swept by Pacific
The momentum swung in game one and the University of the Pacific took off running against the Utah State women’s volleyball team.
Trailing early in the match, the Tigers were able to capitalize on seven Aggie serving errors to take game one and go on to sweep USU 30-27, 30-23, 30-22 Saturday in the Spectrum.
“We gained a lot of confidence from that comeback,” said Pacific Head Coach Jayne McHugh. “They backed off their serves a little bit after missing so many and that gave us a little more of a boost.”
The Aggies (14-14, 7-9) finished out their home season in the loss. Pacific (16-10, 11-5) has now won six straight road matches.
In game one, Utah State jumped out to a 4-0 lead before the Tigers tied it up at
5-5.
Slowly, the Aggies began to pull away, going up 23-17, before Pacific’s All-American middle blocker Jennifer Joines came alive.
Joines picked up three kills and two blocks during an 8-1 run that gave UOP a 25-24 lead.
The Aggies regained the lead at 26-25, but their seventh service error of the game led to a 5-1 run by the Tigers, who took the game and all of the momentum.
“I think that UOP didn’t start very well and we were doing some things that we wanted to do to approach the match,” said Aggie Head Coach Burt Fuller. “Obviously, giving up [seven] points on service errors in the first game, when we lose by three, makes a big difference.”
USU outside hitter Rickie Rigby said, “Heart-wise we kind of just let down, which we can’t do of course.”
In the second game, Pacific continued where it left off, jumping out 3-0. USU tied the game at 4-4, but the Tigers kept rolling and never looked back.
Down 20-12, the Aggies made a push, running off six straight points, but Pacific answered with a five-point run, maintaining a seven-point lead at 25-18 and coasting to the 30-23 win.
“That second game we just lost a little bit of composure and it was a little hard to recover and we gave them an opportunity to really take charge of the match,” Fuller said.
With their backs against wall, the Aggies stayed with Pacific for much of game three, tying the score as late as 17-17.
Down the stretch, though, Pacific was just too much.
The Tigers closed out the game and the match with a 13-5 run for the 30-22 victory and the sweep.
Fuller said, “We hit .262 in the third game. We’ve won matches not hitting .262. It’s not that we played that poorly, it’s just we didn’t play consistently throughout the match.”
For the match, Utah State hit .191 compared to .291 for Pacific. USU was ahead in kills though, 52-45.
“I didn’t think we played that poorly through the match,” Fuller said. “We were inconsistent. They were not very good in the beginning, probably because of some of the things we were doing. We just let them off the hook. They got better and it’s going to make us look a little worse.”
Middle blocker Erin Cartwright led the Aggies with 15 kills, while outside hitter Zuzana Cernianska had 13. Joines recorded the match high with 19 kills, zero errors and .633 hitting.
UOP out blocked and out dug the Aggies 11-6 and 42-39, and McHugh said she was happy with the improvement in her team’s defense.
-sblk5@cc.usu.edu