Loss drops Ags club volleyball team to fifth place at tourney
It was only one loss, but the timing was inopportune enough to shatter any conference championship hopes.
Instead, at 5-1 for the tournament in Las Vegas, the No. 4 Utah State men’s club volleyball team finished fifth.
If the loss would have come earlier in the tournament, with the same 5-1 record the Aggies could have held the Mountain West Volleyball Conference Championship, but the loss in the first round of tournament play put the Aggies best possible finish at fifth.
“We lost a game at the wrong time,” said USU libero Justin Keith.
After sweeping through pool play in the conference championship Friday, the Aggies found themselves facing the University of Colorado for the fourth time of the season. The previous three times the Aggies were able to defeat the Buffalos.
Saturday was different, though, as Colorado was able to slip by Utah State, 2-1.
“We’ve beat them every time we’ve played them,” said Aggie Head Coach Adam Longmore. “The one time where it really mattered, we didn’t.”
Keith said, “I was so mad, you have no idea. We so should not have lost that game.”
Utah State’s opponent wasn’t even set until Saturday morning, but Colorado defeated Air Force for the opportunity to play USU.
And the success of the Buffalos was not wasted, as they went on to meet Arizona in the championship game and finish in second after a loss there.
Unlike Friday in pool play when Colorado wasn’t playing well, Longmore said the Buffalos played a great match against USU. He said also the Aggies were not passing or serving particularly well.
“Against a team like Colorado, we can’t afford to make as many mistakes as we did,” Longmore said.
Keith said, “Our passing was uncharacteristically poor. Because of that, the rest of our offense wasn’t as potent as it’s used to being.”
After the loss, though, the potency of the offense wasn’t a worry as the Aggies went on to take care of business against the Colorado B team and Weber State.
Opening the tournament with pool play, the Aggies defeated both Weber and Northern Arizona, 2-0, before facing BYU-Idaho in their final pool match. It was closer than the other two matches, but USU was able to pull out a 16-14 victory in game three to take the match, 2-1.
“That was a pretty tough match,” Longmore said. “It was just a fun battle.”
The pool play success put Utah State at the top of its pool and set up the fateful match with Colorado. And although Longmore said his team was expecting to challenge for the championship, it was better to lose in Las Vegas than next week at Nationals.
“I could tell it really hurt some of the players,” Longmore said. “We are a team that’s run by emotion. When we play well, that’s good for us, but when we don’t play well, that’s a weakness we have to let our emotions govern how we play.”
Learning a lesson and overcoming those emotions is going to be a big step as the Aggies close out the season.
“For some of our guys it may be more of an obstacle, but I think together as a team we’re looking at it as a positive, something we can learn about,” Keith said.
Longmore said going into Nationals the loss probably will not affect Utah State’s seeding too badly. Currently No. 4 in Division II, the four teams finishing above the Aggies in the conference tournament were all from Division I.
Teams opt which division they want to play in based on their competition level.
Longmore said Utah State may drop a spot or two in the rankings, but the team’s seeding for Nationals should still be high.
Over the next week the team will be practicing and then wrap up the season the next weekend in Columbus, Ohio at the national championship.
-slbk5@cc.usu.edu