Broncos Busted by Ags
Utah State made short work of the Boise State Broncos Thursday night in the Spectrum, using a powerful blocking presence at the net, a shifting defense and a healthy dose of Amanda Nielson to subdue the visitors. USU won the match in three games, 30-26, 30-16, 30-21.
After falling behind 6-3 early in the first game, USU took control behind the blocking of Melissa Osterloh and swung the momentum over to their side – permanently. Utah State Head Coach Grayson DuBose credited his assistant coach Shawn Olmstead for helping his team get the momentum.
“Volleyball is such a game of momentum, particularly at our level. There’s big ebbs and flows. Shawn is moving guys around, telling them, ‘We think they’re going to set here. Let’s move a better blocker out there to give ourselves a chance to go get a block,'” DuBose said. “Olmstead put together a great scouting report for us, and it’s kind of fun to have our kids go execute that.”
Another huge factor in the first game was the play of senior outside hitter Nielson. After leading her team all the way through preseason with three preseason all-tournament selections, Nielson continued her excellent play by jumping out of the gate with 10 kills. Nielson would finish with 17 kills on a .282 hitting percentage, accounting for better of a third of her team’s points.
“I was way excited to play at home,” Nielson said. “Traveling is rough and I was so excited for this game, so there was a lot of energy.”
The senior put that energy to good use, hitting the volleyball as if it stole something from her. Nielson’s serves and spikes were audibly distinguishable from the other player’s on the court. She used her power to blast through Boise State block attempts and pour points on in the second and third games when Boise was crumbling.
“She does what she does. She’s got some strengths and she’s got some weaknesses. Hitting the ball really hard is one of her strengths,” DuBose said. The coach also credited the senior for setting an example for the freshman players, saying it was “nice to see her exercise some leadership.”
The Broncos were unable to keep pace with the killing of Nielson due to dominant blocking by Osterloh, who spearheaded a superior block for USU with four. Utah State outblocked Boise 16-11. The other Aggie they couldn’t solve was the freshman in the blue libero jersey, Christine Morrill. Morrill played defense from the net to the first row of seats, leading USU with 19 digs.
Morrill credited a good attitude with helping USU to the win. “When we get down or we lose a point, we react and come back. We did a really good job of keeping up and keeping good spirits when we made mistakes,” she said.
Next for the Aggies, who improved their season record to 4-6 and got off to a 1-0 start in Western Athletic Conference play, is a match against San Jose State in the Spectrum Saturday night.
Nielson was guardedly optimistic.
“They’re a little better team, so we can’t expect to beat them that bad, but we still want to win,” she said. “I think it’ll be a lot harder. We’ve just got to defend our home court. I don’t want to lose at home, especially as a senior. I just want to win at home.”
-graham.terry@aggiemail.usu.edu