Bump, set, spike Aggie-Style
Utah State University volleyball launched their season earlier this month in pursuit of a fourth straight Mountain West Championship. The Aggies won a share of the regular season title in 2021 and were crowned tournament champions in 2022 before claiming their first outright regular-season title last season.
USU volleyball has been a force in the Mountain West over the last several years, but that has not always been the case. All three championships are under the direction of head coach Rob Neilson, hired in January 2020. At the time of Neilson’s hiring, the Aggies had wrapped up two of their worst seasons in program history. They finished with five wins and 24 losses in 2018, and after a brutal 2019 season, they ended the year with just two wins and a stunning 28 losses, their worst finish since 1995.
After a shortened 2020 season due to COVID-19, Utah State ripped off three remarkable seasons, all ending with hardware for the Aggies. The turnaround for Aggie volleyball has been remarkable.
With so much success in recent memory, Utah State opens its season looking for more of the same.
“We’ve built something pretty special here,” said junior outside hitter Kaylie Ray in an interview with The Utah Statesman. “The goal is to always keep it moving forward and to continue to build on the foundation that’s come before us.”
After redshirting in 2021, Ray played in 21 and 20 matches in the 2022 and 2023 seasons, respectively. Now in her fourth season suiting up for the Aggies, Ray brings a valuable thing to her team: experience.
Utah State returned just four players from the 2023 Mountain West Championship team. Ray, opposite side hitter Adna Mehmedovic, libero Kendal Hone and middle blocker Kelsey Watson are the only players returning alongside 13 newcomers.
“I think everyone’s really eager to step into their roles. We have a lot of girls, and especially with it being such a young team, ready to buy into the program and buy into what their jobs and responsibilities look like moving forward,” Ray said. “I know us older players — we’re ready to carry a good chunk of that load, but these young players are more than capable.”
Not only do the Aggies bring a new team to the court this fall, but this team is much younger than in seasons past. Utah State has 12 first-year students listed on their roster and 14 underclassmen in total.
“We’ve got freshmen as our liberos, and freshmen as outside [hitters], and freshmen at setter, and freshmen at opposites,” Neilson said on his young team. “We just need some experience under our belt, some matches and some understanding of how to play the game. We’re definitely talented enough at all those positions to have a great season.”
Mehmedovic echoed her coach’s confidence in the young talent despite perhaps some inexperience.
“We’ve got some big girls, big attackers, and obviously we’ve had big attackers in the past,” Mehmedovic said. “But these girls — they’re so capable of so many things that maybe our team wasn’t in the past … it’s scary to think of how amazing this team is going to be.”
In addition to a new team’s struggles and growing pains, the Aggies lost several key contributors this offseason. Utah State will be without the contributions of middle blocker Kennedi Boyd, a 2022 all-Mountain West team selection, outside hitter Shelby Capplonch, a 2023 all-Mountain West team selection, and outside hitter Tatum Stall, who earned all-Mountain West honors each of the last three seasons.
Despite the lack of these familiar stars and the fact that the team is such a new, young team, coach Neilson is confident in his squad entering the season. “Teams are going to have to catch us early because we’re going to be real good as we get to the end of the year,” Neilson said. “We just need experience. Then I think it ends up being a pretty balanced offense, which is great for us. Maybe more explosive and physical than we’ve ever had, but we’re not there yet.”
With the recent turnaround within the program and the new standard of winning, student interest in Utah State volleyball has never been higher. With “Club Estes” banners donning the south walls of the gym, The HURD fills the student section nearly every match and makes their presence felt.
“I know it’s scary for girls in our conference to come play here because they get so loud, and the fans are, like, on top of us, and it just makes it such a fun environment,” Ray said on student support.
“I feel bad for any team that has to come in here and play against us with those guys behind us,” Mehmedovic agreed.
USU opened their season last month at the Utah Classic, winning their first match 3-2 over Green Bay before dropping back-to-back matches against Utah and University of Texas at El Paso. The following weekend welcomed the Aggies back into the Wayne Estes Center for the first time in the 2024 season, where they hosted Cal and #8 Purdue. The Aggies faltered in both matches, losing 1-3 to Cal and 0-3 to Purdue.
“We’re going to see lots of plays, freshman plays, things where we’re not quite connecting setters and pin hitters, not in the right place at the right time, balls falling that shouldn’t fall,” Neilson said on their early adversity. “That all comes with kind of understanding how to play together as a group in tight and tough moments.”
Despite the early challenges, Neilson feels good about the direction of his young squad.
“We’ll get there. We’re excited. This is a super-talented group, as talented as we’ve ever seen,” Neilson said.
After a four-game road trip, the Aggies are back in Logan and hosting in-state opponent Utah Valley at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum for their annual Spectrum Magic Night this Thursday at 8 p.m.