Aggies fall short in home opener against Texas A&M
Utah State Volleyball played its home opener on Sept. 6 against the No. 9-ranked Texas A&M Aggies. Despite opening the match strong with a first-set win, Utah State fell 3-1.
Texas A&M quickly jumped ahead in the first set, taking an 11-4 lead prior to a Utah State timeout. Following the timeout, USU rallied from behind and finished the set, going 21-12, winning the set 25-23.
When asked about Utah State’s approach after the timeout, head coach Rob Neilson explained his thoughts.
“I thought we came out fairly aggressively. We didn’t serve them tough enough initially, and so we were kind of giving away some points that way. A couple of balls weren’t going down, we were making good swings that they were turning and they were kind of killing everything early on,” Neilson said. “We felt like if we stayed with our process, we could have some opportunities to score some points, which we did.”
The second set was a back-and-forth battle with 5 lead changes, and neither team was able to go on a run of more than two points until Texas A&M broke a 4-0 run, giving them a 17-15 lead. Following a timeout, USU regrouped and rallied back to tie at 20-20 but ended up falling short with Texas A&M winning the set 25-21.
In the third set, the Aggies jumped out to an early 5-2 lead but quickly found themselves tied with Texas A&M 6-6 following a streak of impressive kills. Texas A&M dominated the rest of the set, winning 25-14 behind an .444 hitting percentage. Meanwhile, Utah State struggled in the same department, posting only a .077 hitting percentage in the third set.
Neilson had high praise for Texas A&M’s team, especially their incredible offensive performance.
“They’re big and physical. I felt like we started pushing them from the service line. They were out of system a little bit, and then they kind of found it a little more and got a little more comfortable, and then frankly, started taking better swings,” Neilson said. “They were attacking high and hard in the seams with their physicality. It’s really tough hitting those kinds of angles. You can’t cover all the court.”
During the fourth set, Utah State was able to return to form offensively, posting a hitting percentage of .407, a major jump from the prior three sets. Despite the offensive improvements, USU was unable to pull away as the set turned into yet again another close match, eventually losing 25-19 following a 5-1 run to close out the match by Texas A&M.
“We had a lot of little things that I don’t think we executed very well on — you know, overpasses and free balls and some stuff that you just can’t give a great team that many opportunities,” Neilsen said, “We’re going to clean up a few of those things, and we’re going to get better and better as we keep playing together.”
Despite the loss, the energy inside the Wayne Estes Center was unmatched. The HURD was out in full force Friday night, packing the stands to cheer on their Aggies. Moments such as Loryn Helgesen’s solo block to tie the first set 17-17 saw Club Estes roar to life, shaking the bleachers and energizing the USU Aggies.
“We jump a little higher in the Estes. We hit a little harder,” Neilson expressed regarding the impact of the HURD. “This is a really fun environment, and it’s really tough for any team to come in and play well. It’s intimidating. It’s amazing having the HURD out.”
The Aggies return to Club Estes on Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. and will take on their second top-25-ranked team in two days: No. 21 Utah.