Aggies battle Titans at home
After playing five straight matches on the road, the Utah State University women’s volleyball team returns to the friendly confines of the Spectrum on Thursday as the Aggies host California State University at Fullerton at 7 p.m.
With victories over – then No. 13 – BYU and the University of Idaho two weeks ago, the Aggies broke the top 25 for the first time this season. However, their stay would be short lived, with USU losing all three of its matches last week.
Thursday’s match will mark the beginning of the second half of Big West Conference play for the Aggies (11-7, 7-3 in league play).
Despite dropping both conference matches they played last week, head coach Burt Fuller said this is where he expected the team to be midway through the conference season.
“Looking back, if we would have drawn it up on paper, we’re right where we probably should be [at this point],” Fuller said.
Now in fourth place in the Big West, not only are the Aggies looking to get back to their winning ways against the Titans, but regain their health.
USU was zapped by the flu bug last week, playing Saturday’s match against the University of California, Santa Barbara without starting middle blocker Erin Cartwright.
The Aggies were also without the services of Emily Kennedy and Rickie Rigby.
“We still have some lingering effects with dehydration [problems],” Fuller said. “We’re going to see how we look today and tomorrow [at practice].”
Whether the Aggies are 100 percent healthy or not, Thursday’s match against CSF and Saturday’s match against the University of California, Riverside are must-win matches if the Aggies want to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, Fuller said.
“We have to treat this like it is a playoff match to get into the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “These matches are huge matches for us. Going into the [last half ] of the season, you want to be playing well.”
As important as these matches are, USU should take some solace in the fact they have posted a 21-5 record at the Spectrum over the last three years.
Utah State has already beaten the Titans and Highlanders on the road this year, sweeping UC Riverside 3-0, while defeating CSF 3-1.
Despite its recent success against both teams, Fuller said the Aggies will have to play a complete match to emerge victorious.
“They [Fullerton] have a good team,” he said. “When we played them in Fullerton it was kind of a struggle.”
The Titans are led by senior middle blocker Katie Crawford. Crawford leads the team with a hitting percentage of .355 and slammed 20 kills against the Aggies in Fullerton.