Men’s club volleyball finish tied for ninth
Despite a ninth-place finish nationally, there is some disappointment for the Aggies.
The Utah State University men’s volleyball club A team finished its season in Dallas, Texas, Saturday, losing in the first elimination game of the championship bracket.
“Me, personally, I’m a little disappointed,” A team captain and setter Greg Jorgenson said. “We never totally met our physical athletic potential, but at least we got as far as we did.”
The Aggies entered the tournament seeded 11th in their division and opened pool play Thursday going 2-1 to finish second.
The second-place finish put the Aggies in a challenge match Friday and a victory there allowed them to advance to the championship pool.
In Friday’s championship pool, the Aggies again went 2-1, finishing second and advancing to Saturday’s Gold bracket for single elimination.
Jorgenson said the two days of pool play were representative of the Aggies’ entire season.
“We were up and down,” he said. “I don’t think we should have lost either game. We came out pretty slow the first day and I think it had a lot to do with emotion and inexperience.”
Saturday the Aggies faced Augustana University College, a team from Alberta, Canada.
“We had heard good things about them from other teams,” Jorgenson said.
The Aggies fell in two games, 26-24 and 25-21.
“We out played them the first game and it was a huge emotional letdown when we lost,” Jorgenson said. “After we had lost the first game, it finished us off.”
The loss knocked the Aggies from the tournament and put them into a ninth-place tie in Division II. Augustana finished tied for third.
“Theoretically that’s where we should have ended,” Jorgenson said. “It was about what we were ranked going in but by no means should we have finished in that spot. We should have gone to the Great Eight or further.”
The Aggie B team also made the trip to Dallas to compete.
On the first day the B team went 1-2 to finish third, but won its challenge match to stay in the championship pool. A 0-2 record in Friday’s pool dropped the B team into the Silver Bracket where they met the Utah Valley State College B team.
The Aggies fell in three games, 25-23, 19-25, 15-12 and finished tied for 13th in Division III.
Jorgenson said overall the tournament went like the entire season.
“We had some good moments, glimmers of where we could be, but for the most part we were the roller coaster team we’ve seen all year,” he said.