Full-strength Ags pick up key win
Following World War I, the United States made a push for a return to normalcy. Although not quite as dramatic, that is exactly what the Utah State women’s volleyball team was hoping for going into Thursday’s contest against Cal Poly. And with the team back at full strength, the Aggies succeeded in disposing of the Mustangs in four games – 30-17, 29-31, 30-25, 30-29. After losing opposite side hitter Zuzana Cernianska for two matches at home earlier in the season with a strained elbow, the Aggies also lost outside hitter Beth Hodge for four matches late last month with an injured rotator cuff. “It’s been a rough four weeks for us,” Hodge said. “[Zuzana] was either out or I was out. It’s way nice to be back to normal and to have both of us back in at the same time to feed off of each other because we do that a lot.” Hodge said she was especially excited to play in the Spectrum because she hadn’t done so since the UC Irvine contest Oct. 4. For Utah State Head Coach Burt Fuller, having Cernianska and Hodge able to compete in the same match gives the team a little more confidence. “We need to be at full strength,” he said. “That doesn’t assure us of a win, but it sure is a lot more comforting to know we have the full strength of the group.” And the Aggies came out of the gates running against the Mustangs. Cernianska recorded six kills in the first game alone, and middle blocker Erin Cartwright added five. The team hit a remarkable .559. Utah State (7-6 in Big West Conference action, 15-9 overall) went into the second game riding high, but fell when Cal Poly scored seven of the final eight points in the game. “We kind of got complacent,” Hodge said. “We were like, ‘We creamed them. So do we really need to come out hard?’ We just kind of got complacent and it came back to bite us in the butt.” Fuller said, “We started really well, but it was a little disappointing to kind of go asleep a little bit [in the second game]. I thought we started the second game kind of slow.” Fuller said errors at the beginning of the second game caused the team to lose its focus, something it can’t do against a team like Cal Poly. The Mustangs have played seven five-game matches this season, including four of which were victories. CP is currently ranked eighth in the Big West with a 4-5 league record and 12-13 overall. A big factor between Cal Poly and Utah State was blocking. After the first two games, the teams combined for four team blocks. In the third game USU tallied three huge blocks in a row, including two by the duo of Cartwright and setter Andrea Delsigne. In the fourth game Mari Ruddick and Ingrid Roth teamed up for a big block, immediately followed by a Roth/Cernianska swat. CP finished with 16 team blocks, while USU had 12. Although she was shut down offensively, Ruddick finished the night with a solo block to seal the victory in the final game. Fuller said that throughout the season the team has talked about how it needs to be balanced in order to win. With four hitters in double digits for kills (Cernianska with 24, Cartwright with 15, Hodge with 18 and Roth with 10), Fuller was satisfied. And despite the emotional toughness of tight contests, Fuller said it is good for the team. “It’s nice to have some of those close games to challenge ourselves with,” he said. “We’ve just need to be more consistent.” The Aggies will look to begin that consistency Saturday when they host league-leading UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. In the Oct. 10 meeting in California against the then-ranked No. 10 Gauchos the match went five games, including a 39-37 thriller which UCSB won. The match, however, was the first contest back for Cernianska and, ironically, the one Hodge was injured in. UC Santa Barbara is currently ranked No. 19 in the country with an 11-2 league record and 15-6 overall. Freshman middle blocker Olivia Waldowski leads the team hitting .389, while middle blocker Megan Blackshire is hitting .371. UCSB is hitting .249 as a team, while holding its opponent to .222. The Gauchos have won five straight matches, including victories over Cal State Northridge and Pacific last weekend. UC Santa Barbara is currently 6-4 this season on the road. The team returned four starters and nine letterwinners from last season’s squad that went 30-3 and finished a perfect 18-0 in the league. -juag@cc.usu.edu