Aggie hitters come up short
In Saturday’s volleyball showdown, it took all five sets to determine a winner; all five sets, and then a little bit more. Tied 2-2 in a pivotal WAC game against Idaho (12-11, 7-5 WAC), the Utah State volleyball team (18-8, 6-7 WAC) staved off four match points in the fifth set – and had two match points of their own – before eventually falling 21-19 in that final set.
“That was a huge match,” Aggie head coach Grayson DuBose said. “We had a chance to solidify third place (in the WAC), but we didn’t capitalize on it. Individually we had some nice performances, but collectively we couldn’t get it done.”
Right from the start Idaho came out aggressively and for most of the first set the Vandals had the lead. After starting strong behind outside hitter Allison Walker, who finished with a match-high 27 kills, the Vandals continued to press their lead and went up 24-20 against the Aggies to set up game point. USU refused to give in, though, and came roaring back with six straight points to win the first set 26-24.
“We’ve done that a lot this year,” junior Liz McArthur said. “Sometimes it just takes us to get behind and for them to be game point before we really realize that the set is almost over.”
The Aggies, however, couldn’t carry over any momentum from their dramatic win as they struggled and dropped the next two sets. Idaho jumped out to an early 15-9 lead in the second set and never looked back as they went on to win 25-19, fueled again by Allison Walker’s eight kills. USU was tougher in the third set as the scoring went back and forth, but Idaho was again able to pull out the win, 25-21.
“They’re a really good team,” McArthur said. “But when we’d get in those ruts, it was us making errors and us not playing our best. Our passing definitely broke down throughout the game so we had ups and downs.”
For much of the first three sets, it seemed like there were more downs than ups, as USU was playing from behind for much of the time, a trend DuBose would like to reverse.
“I hate coming from behind,” DuBose said. “It’s hard to come back, you have to expend a bunch of energy and when you do that, the tendency is to say, ‘OK, now we’re even, we can relax a little bit,’ and then, boom, they’re ahead again.”
The Aggies must have taken DuBose’s words to heart, because when they came out in the fourth set, they looked like a different team. Utah State and McArthur in particular, came out firing and early on used a couple runs to put them up 14-8, before cruising to a 25-16 win. McArthur had nine kills in the fourth set alone, two more than she had in the first three sets combined.
USU and Idaho headed to a deciding fifth set. In the fifth, Idaho jumped out to an early 4-0 lead only to have the Aggies respond and tie it at 5-5. After trading points, Utah State made a run and pushed their lead to 12-9 before Idaho had a rally of their own to take the lead back, 13-12.
With the Spectrum rocking, the Aggies fought off their first match point to tie it at 15. The Vandals continued to pressure USU, but the Aggies continued to find a way to avoid losing. A Utah State rally gave them the advantage at 18-17, but it wasn’t enough as Idaho stormed back with a 4-1 run to give them the set and match victory.
“We were two pretty evenly matched teams,” DuBose said. “For us it just comes down to the little things, like not getting a block, or missing a couple digs, and all those little things matter in getting even with them.”
With the loss, Utah State falls to 18-8 overall and 6-7 in WAC play. The Aggies now look to make a final push for the WAC tournament, starting Nov. 12 when they take on Nevada at home in what will be the last home game of the season.
– mark.israelsen@aggiemail.usu.edu