Aggie enjoy a sweep senior night
On an emotional senior night in the Spectrum Saturday, the Utah State women’s volleyball team made short work of the University of California, Irvine, sweeping the Anteaters 30-28, 30-19, 30-16.
Before the match the Aggies honored five seniors- outside hitters Tanya McArthur-Birch, Lisa Borom and Heather Olmstead, middle blocker Michelle Matheson and setter Chelsi Neves.
“It’s crazy that it’s senior night already,” Matheson said. “I’m going to miss playing in [the Spectrum].”
Head Coach Burt Fuller said, “Senior nights are always tough. There’s a lot of emotion and we kind of forget about why we’re here for a while.”
USU got out to a shaky start in the first game, falling behind 5-2 then 6-11 due to several hitting errors and strong play early on by Irvine.
Late in the game, the Aggies were down by six points, 14-20, before making a run to close within one, 19-20. Utah State was able to pull ahead for good at 25-23 and traded points with Irvine down the stretch for the 30-28 victory.
“I think we were a little overanxious to play,” Olmstead said. “We needed to refocus and get our minds on the game instead of senior night.”
Fuller said, “Our kids made a nice little turnaround. Irvine was playing good pretty early and taking advantage of us not playing well and it was nice we were able to turn that around.”
Game two started much differently for the Aggies as they opened up a 13-5 lead Irvine was unable to challenge. En route to the 30-19 victory, the Aggies hit a blistering .452 with 20 kills and only one error.
The third game was much the same for the Aggies. Irvine tied the score early at 7-7, but the Aggies ran off seven straight points to go up 14-7. Another seven-point run late in the game put the Aggies up 28-14.
Leading 29-16, Aggie freshman defensive specialist Traci Ostler entered the game to serve for outside hitter Erin Cartwright. On a short serve to the left side, Ostler scored an ace to put the Anteaters away, ending the game 30-16.
Utah State hit .338 with 58 kills for the match while holding Irvine to only .135 and 38 kills. The Aggies were led by Cartwright, who had 17 kills on .438 hitting, and Matheson who had 14 kills while hitting .385.
The victory moves Utah State to 11-5 in the Big West conference and solidifies a fourth place finish. The Aggies will finish their conference schedule on the road Monday and Tuesday.
After losing to No. 1 Long Beach State University 0-3 on Thursday the Aggies will have a chance for a rematch on Tuesday, but first they must face Irvine again on Monday.
“I don’t think we’ll overlook Irvine because we know how important it is,” Ostler said. “We’ll go in strong. It is kind of a preparatory game for Long Beach to help us get in the right mind set.”
Fuller said, “Hopefully without the emotions of a senior night we’ll come out to a little bit better start against Irvine. Against Long Beach we’ll give it a better whack. We’ll just go in there and see what we can do. We’re looking forward to it.”
Following the road trip, the Aggies will finish out the regular season at home on Friday against Boise State University.