Gauchos prevail in barnburner over Aggie spikers
The Utah State University women’s volleyball team was narrowly defeated in a hotly contested five-game match, last night in the Spectrum.
The Aggies lost 3-2 against the University of California-Santa Barbara Gauchos, a team ranked 19th in the country. The loss drops USU to 4-4 on the season, 1-1 in the Big West.
“It was a disappointing loss,” USU head coach Burt Fuller said. “But how can we be disappointed with that effort?”
“A loss is always tough,” said outside hitter Lisa Borom. “We played the best we played all season.”
“It was a hard one to swallow,” said outside hitter Heather Olmstead.
The Aggies jumped out to a quick lead in the first game, going up 4-0, and later 13-7. UCSB tied the score up at 14-14, keeping the score close until they were able to go ahead 30-29 and won the game 31-29.
Of the five games, the first was the only game UCSB out-hit USU. Santa Barbara hit .268 while USU hit .209.
In the second game, Santa Barbara took a 2-0 lead, but the Aggies fought their way into the lead early at 5-4. USU held onto the lead through the remainder of the game, cruising to a 30-26 victory.
In the second game, Utah State was led by senior middle blocker Michelle Matheson with seven kills and senior setter Chelsi Neves who had 14 assists. Neves recorded 68 assists for the match.
USU took the momentum into the third game and behind strong blocking, won the game 30-25.
USU went into the fourth game leading 2-1 and played evenly with UCSB until Matheson took over the serve for USU. The Aggies scored two points behind Matheson and took the lead 9-6. It was at this point the game was stopped for three to four minutes because of a discrepancy in the USU rotation.
After the referees were able to sort out the confusion, USU points were taken away, and UCSB was given a point. This switch tied the game at 7-7.
“I take full responsibility for that,” Fuller said.
Fuller said he is still learning a couple of player’s numbers and had one incorrect number on the lineup.
At this point, the momentum switched and the Gauchos played the Aggies tough, taking a 21-18 lead before USU called time-out.
Following the time- out, Santa Barbara remained in control, though the Aggies were able to close to 24-25 before the Gauchos pulled away and won the game 25-30.
Before the start of the fifth game, Utah State won the coin toss and opted to serve. The Aggies fell behind 4-5, but quickly tied the game at five. The two teams then traded points until the Gauchos took a two-point lead at 12-10. The Aggies were able to close within one at 13-14 on a UCSB service error, but it wasn’t enough as the Gauchos won the game 15-13 and took the match, three games to two.
For the match, the Aggies hit .267 and had 86 kills, 77 assists, 92 digs and 12 blocks. The Aggies were able to hold UCSB to a .189 hitting percentage.
The Aggies were led by Hailey MacKay, Erin Cartwright, Shauni Fluckiger, Borom and Matheson who all had double digits in kills.
“We had five kids in double digits and that is encouraging for me,” Fuller said. “We’ve got to be balanced because we don’t have one player who can carry the team.”
USU also had five players in double digits in digs, with Chelsi Neves, Borom, Cartwright, Fluckige and Heather Olmstead.
“Anytime we can out dig a Santa Barbara team, we are playing good defense,” Fuller said. Santa Barbara had 76 digs compared to Utah State’s 92.
Utah State also improved in the block category, recording 12 blocks compared to only seven against Idaho last Saturday.
“It was a nice showing to have 12 blocks,” Fuller said.
“It is huge,” Borom said. “[Good blocking] makes it so we can set up the defense the way it is supposed to be.”
The Aggies will be playing Cal Poly on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the Spectrum.
“Cal Poly’s dead,” said Borom. “I don’t like to lose twice in a row. I don’t like to lose at all.”
Following the Cal Poly match, USU will return to the road to play the University of California, Riverside.