Ags clinch 2-seed
The Utah State women’s volleyball team secured a second-place WAC tournament seed Saturday night with a three-game win over Nevada.
“It meets our goal,” head coach Burt Fuller said of the second-place seeding. “I’m really happy for our seniors. They were able to finish out with a win for their last match here. That’s always special.”
Coming into the match, both Nevada and USU had identical 10-5 conference records. The Aggies had to win the match in order to secure their seeding.
In the first match, the Aggies came out even with Nevada. Both teams traded points and the lead for the first part of the game, until the Wolverines were able to pull ahead with a 29-26 lead.
But USU didn’t give up.
“We’ve been in plenty of those situations before,” senior Ingrid Roth said. “We’re kind of pros in the comeback from two points and push through. We’ve had so many people do it to us and the world has a nice balance and it’s our turn this time.”
The Aggies went on a 5-0 run in the final minutes of the first game and won it 31-29.
“Our kids played tough,” Fuller said. “We hung with it and somehow manufactured a couple points and got the first game. I think that took a lot of steam out of Nevada.”
Nevada didn’t have much left for the second game. The Aggies came out and scored six-straight points to open the match with a 6-0 lead, and the Wolverines never got closer than that.
“We knew we had to win it,” senior Beth Hodge said. “We just wanted to come out and beat the pants off them.”
Fuller said the fact that the Aggies had such a strong start in the second game gave USU a lot of confidence throughout the rest of the match. The Aggies picked up the second game with a 30-21 win.
Nevada didn’t have much for the third game. USU came out and built a 17-6 lead. The Aggies won the game and match with a 30-22 win.
“We proved ourselves in this match,” Roth said. “They’re a hot team. For us to take care of them in three, is amazing. For us, that’s huge. That proves a lot to us. I think that proves a lot to the WAC, to the NCAA and I don’t think they can overlook us.”
Senior Zuzana Cernianska led the way for the Aggies with 15 kills. Aggie Carolyn Forbush was the only other player in double digits for USU, finishing the night with 11 kills.
The WAC tournament begins Thanksgiving day in Reno, Nev. The Aggies will face Fresno State. USU split its series with Fresno this year, falling in five games at Fresno, then defeating the Bulldogs in three games here in Logan.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu