Jordan brings needed spark off bench for USU
In the fourth game of Tuesday’s volleyball match, Utah State University middle blocker Jenna Jordan provided a boost to lift Utah State over BYU.
“She gave us a nice little lift in the last couple of games,” said Aggie Head Coach Burt Fuller.
Jordan is a freshman on the team this year and this was her first match against an in-state rival.
“When I first got put in I was nervous, but then it was just fun after a while,” she said.
Jordan finished the match with six kills and 11 digs.
Aggie middle blocker Erin Cartwright said, “Jenna just went all out, she just swang. She’s just carefree, a carefree freshman.”
Lights, camera, action
The new video scoreboard in the Spectrum made its game debut to rave reviews.
“It’s unbelievable,” said freshman business major Swede Olson. “It makes the game so much better.”
Dave Newman, a sophomore pre-med major, said, “If you think the intensity [in the Spectrum] was high before, it is raised now.”
The scoreboard showed Aggie highlights, player information, statistics, replays and live action.
Although she was on the court playing much of the time, Cartwright said she loved the scoreboard.
“I thought it made the Spectrum perfect,” she said.
An ace in the hole
Setter/outside hitter Zuzana Cernianska started the match with a service ace for the Aggies, and followed it with two more in the first four points.
Cernianska finished with five aces and the Aggies as a team finished with nine.
“Our serving has never been better,” Cartwright said. “That won us the game I think.”
Quotable
“It’s nice for our kids to get a win against BYU, that’s always a great win to beat an in-state rival. Any time you beat a BYU team you’re beating a good program.” -Aggie Head Coach Burt Fuller on the USU victory.
“She came in and just whacked at the ball and that’s what we needed.” – Aggie Erin Cartwright on middle blocker Jenna Jordan.
Big West Conference Standings
Conference Overall
W L W L
UC Santa Barbara 6 0 15 0
Long Beach State 5 1 13 1
Pacific 4 1 9 5
Cal Poly 4 2 5 9
UC Irvine 3 3 9 6
Cal State Northridge 2 3 7 6
Utah State 1 4 7 8
UC Riverside 1 4 5 10
Idaho 1 4 4 9
Cal State Fullerton 0 5 4 14
By the numbers
20 – season-high kills recorded by Cartwright.
11 – digs by Jordan.
10 – block assists by both Cougars Karina Puikkonen and
Carrie Bowers.
9 – service aces by the Aggies.
8 – display screens on the new scoreboard.
5 – Service aces by Cernianska
4 – wins by USU over BYU in the last five matches.
between the teams.
2 – five-game matches against BYU.
Up next
Utah State will take on the University of California Riverside Thursday in the Spectrum.
The Aggies swept the Highlanders twice last season in Big West Conference play.
Cal State Fullerton will visit Logan Saturday for a 7 p.m. match before the Aggies hit the road to take on Pacific and Cal State Northridge Oct. 17 and 19, respectively.
-slbk5@cc.usu.edu