Men’s volleyball club finishes fourth at tourney, struggles against UVSC
After two losses to Utah Valley State College, the Utah State University men’s club volleyball A team was still able to earn a fourth-place finish at a Salt Lake Community College tournament Friday and Saturday.
Team captain Adam Longmore said the team felt good overall and played well despite the losses, but still has a lot to work on.
“We cannot be satisfied with our performance right now,” Longmore said. “We think because we got to play a good team we did pretty well. We can’t be happy to just play UVSC and not finish through. We need to believe in ourselves.”
He said the Aggies have not realized their potential and are surprised when they play up to it.
“We have got to go into every competition believing we can win, anticipating the win, believing we can do it,” Longmore said.
Utah State started pool play Friday night with two victories and picked up a third victory Saturday morning before losing to the UVSC A team in two games.
Finishing 3-1 in pool play, the Aggies were seeded fourth for the double-elimination portion of the tournament and earned a first-round bye.
Utah State defeated the SLCC A team in three games to open double elimination before falling a second time to UVSC in two games.
The loss to UVSC sent USU into the losers’ bracket where the Aggies picked up a victory over the SLCC B team before being eliminated by Club Magic.
In practices prior to the tournament, the Aggies focused on passing the ball better, Longmore said.
“We saw a drastic improvement in our passing,” he said.
Longmore said the Aggies were passing and playing well until midway through the tournament Saturday when the team began to tire. The Aggies only had eight players and did not have much of an opportunity for substitution.
Prior to their final match, the Aggies had played five matches Saturday and two Friday night.
“We just ran out of gas,” Longmore said. “When we got fatigued, our passing went down, and when our passing breaks down, our offense breaks down.”
In addition to the A team, the Aggies also sent their B team to the tournament. Though the B team didn’t finish as high as the A team, Longmore said they played well.
He said the B team was playing respectably, despite competing against the A teams from other schools.
The Aggies will compete again Feb. 22 and 23 at a conference tournament hosted by the Air Force Academy.
Longmore said both the A and B teams will be traveling, but they may be short-handed due to the Olympics and players having prior
commitments.