Men’s volleyball club places 15th in Mountain West tournament
The 10th-ranked Utah State men’s volleyball club placed 15th at the Mountain West Conference Championships Saturday at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.
The Aggies, seeded fifth entering the tournament, went 1-3 during pool play and entered competition Saturday in the Silver Division, again seeded fifth. USU beat Northern Arizona 25-19, 25-22 to begin pool play and then dropped close matches to Arizona State, 25-17, 25-22 and Washington State, 25-23, 25-20.
The Aggies were missing middle blocker Dave Johnston, who was unable to travel with the team because of commitments with school, and setter Greg Jorgenson, who broke a finger in practice three weeks ago. Jorgenson did play several games as an outside hitter.
“We would have done a lot better with Dave and Greg setting,” said opposite hitter T.J. Moss. “But we won some of the games we should have.”
As a result of their record during pool play, the Aggies were seeded in the lower portion of the tournament and couldn’t place higher than 10th.
“We started slow and picked things up toward the end,” said middle blocker Mike Tye.
During tournament play Saturday, USU began by losing to Colorado 25-18, 25-21 and beat UVSC “B” 25-15, 25-20 and Southern Utah University 30-28, 26-24.
“It was a learning experience,” Moss said.
Next week the Aggies will travel to Kansas City, Miss., to compete in the national championships.