Ags top ‘Cats
By Andrea Edmunds
Sports Editor
It came down to holding on and holding out for the Utah State volleyball team Tuesday night in Ogden as the Aggies defeated Weber State in four games.
After allowing Weber an early 1-0 lead in the match, the Aggies fought back to take the 2-1 lead going into the fourth game. But the Wildcats weren’t going to let them have it easily.
“The fourth game was really exciting because we were behind most of the game – behind when [the score] was in the 20s,” Utah State Head Coach Burt Fuller said. “We were up [going into the fourth game]. We wanted to win the match and we didn’t want to go five games.
“That was evident down the stretch when we came back from behind. We just wanted to get this win.”
Composure in the fourth game was the key to the win, Fuller said. The composure paid off for the Ags in the long haul that was a 35-33 win for Utah State.
The Aggies found out not too long before the match that they would be without sophomore Monarisa Ale, forcing the Ags to make some unexpected changes. However, Fuller said his team adjusted to the changes well – after the first game.
Although senior Erin Graybill came out on fire in the first game, the rest of the team had trouble getting behind her, giving the early lead to the Wildcats.
“Graybill just started out on fire,” Fuller said. “She was probably attacking the ball as well as she has all season.”
Fuller said in the first game the outside hitters had trouble getting into the game, despite Graybill’s performance.
Weber took advantage of the Ags weakness and won the game 30-24. However, despite the score, the Ags were far from being beaten.
“I thought we took a real work-like approach to [the next game],” Fuller said. “We said this is where we are struggling, these are things we need to change.”
He said the ‘Cats started to focus on Graybill in game two, opening up opportunities for the outside hitters to put some points up on the board.
Senior Zuzana Cernianska and red shirt sophomore Beth Hodge took advantage of that.
Cernianska led all players with a match-high 24 kills. Hodge was not far behind, finishing the night with 17.
Graybill was the only other Aggie in double-digits, finishing with 11 kills in the win.
“Our outsides were hitting zero after the first game,” Fuller said. “It’s tough to win any game if your outside hitters are hitting zero. [However] both finished out with pretty positive numbers on the left side. Junior Breanne Swenson added some nice help for us on the right and left side. I think for her to come in and give a lot of minutes was great. She really helped us out tonight.”
Swenson finished the night with six kills.
Fuller said the win came at a nice time for the Ags.
Although the season started out nicely with a 4-0 record, Utah State had been on a disappointing downhill spiral. The team lost three heartbreaking five-game matches in a row, then fell to a tough BYU team on the road.
“Every win is huge,” he said. “We started off on a nice streak, came into a tough four game stretch and have another tough three game stretch.”
However, the Aggies were riding a six-game winning streak against Weber going into the match, so the odds were on their side.
But it didn’t mean they were going to treat it lightly.
“It’s never an easy match when you’re playing in-state,” Fuller said. “Last year we beat them here in Logan in five games. They really improved this year. We by no means thought this was going to be an easy match.”
With the win, Utah State picked up its fifth win, improving to 5-4 on the season.
It was almost like deja-vu for the Aggies – last season Weber gave Utah State its fifth win as well.
Weber State’s Leah Burmeister led the way for the Cats with 18 kills. Two other players put double figures on the board as well. Chelsea Bair finished with 14 kills while Melissa Nielsen put 10 up on the board for Weber.
The Aggies will now head on the road for the 2005 Stanford Invitational Tournament.
It definitely won’t be a walk in the park as the Ags will face some of their toughest competition all season with third-ranked Stanford, 23rd-ranked St. Mary’s and No. 24 UC Santa Barbara.
After this weekend, the volleyball team will return home to host Idaho State Monday night in the Spectrum.
“We’re looking forward to next week when we come home,” Fuller said. “We have a tough road trip. [When we get back] we start first match of conference play Thursday night against a good New Mexico team.
“We’re just hoping to see some people in the stands.”
Monday’s game starts at 6 p.m. while Thursday’s starts at 7 p.m.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu
Utah State´s Beth Hodge goes for a kill over a Weber State player Tuesday night in Ogden. The Aggies ended thier losing streak with a four-game win over the Wildcats.