Ags go down in four
The Utah State volleyball team had their two-game winning streak snapped as they were defeated by Nevada in four sets (19-25, 25-19, 23-25, 23-25) Saturday night in Reno.
The Aggies were led by senior Melissa Osterloh, who had 15 kills and nine digs in the match. Freshman outside hitter Emily Kortsen also played well for USU, recording 10 kills and two blocks while hitting .381. Sophomore libero Christine Morrill continued her solid defensive play with 10 digs and a career-high four service aces.
USU falls to 6-5 in conference play this season, while Nevada improves to 6-5 with the win, putting the two teams in a tie for fourth place in the WAC.
“We had a nice match in parts, but we just weren’t as good as we needed to be at the end,” said head coach Grayson DuBose. “We just made some bad decisions at the end.”
The Aggies did put a fight, as the teams traded the lead 25 times in the match and had 37 tie scores.
In the first set, the Aggies watched their 17-13 lead disappear as the Wolf Pack went on a 12-2 run to finish the set.
The Aggies rebounded in the second set, going on a 7-1 run to turn an 18-all tie into a six-point victory.
After a disappointing two-point loss in the third set, the Aggies were able to even the score at 22-22 late in the fourth set. Nevada then scored three of the final four points, ending the match.
The Aggies hit .244 in the match, while Nevada hit .288. Nevada was led by hitter Lindsay Baldwin, who had 20 kills and a .548 hitting percentage.
DuBose said that the Aggies were able to keep Nevada out of system, but were unable to keep control in the end of each set.
“(Nevada) would catch fire at different points in the match, and later in each set they were better than we were,” he said. “We were up 22-21 in the third game and we couldn’t pull it out, so that gets a little frustrating.”
Utah State won the first meeting between the two teams when they played in September. DuBose said both teams have improved, and are pretty evenly-matched.
“Our hitting percentages were both better tonight,” he said. “That’s kind of the way it comes down when we’re two pretty evenly-matched teams – it’s closer in the end.”
DuBose said the team struggled with their ball control and with staying in system, but were able to serve well
“We just didn’t stay in system for a long enough period of time. That was kind of the biggest challenge,” he said. “But we got 10 aces on the night, so we’re pretty happy about that.”
Despite the loss, DuBose said the team is still continuing to work hard and is positive about the rest of the season.
“The girls are continuing to want to be good, so that’s kind of a good place to be,” he said. “We have a big match coming up on Thursday, so that should be kind of fun.”
The Aggies will play Idaho, who is in third place in the WAC, for the second time this season Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Spectrum.