Men’s volleyball falls in finals
The USU men’s volleyball team finished second to the Alumni team Saturday at the USU Men’s Invitational preseason tournament.
The Aggies got off to a slow start in the final round of the tournament after beating up their opponents at the net earlier in the tournament.
USU found themselves down 11-6 in the first game of the final round but scored four straight points to get back in the game. Down 15-12, USU went on a 7-0 run to put the Aggies in the lead by a score of 19-15. The Alumni answered by scoring six straight points putting them up 21-19. The Aggies would eventually lose the game – their first loss of the tournament – 26-24.
In the second game USU rallied back from a five-point-deficit to win the game, 25-23.
The final game of the tournament would only be played to 15 instead of the normal 25, and once again the Aggies started out slow and trailed the entire game, losing by a score of 15-12.
With the third set win, the USU Alumni team won the series 2-1 and by doing so won the tournament.
Keenan Atwood said that the Aggies just lost their momentum from the previous best-of-three series against The Breakfast Club in which the Aggies won 2-0.
“We lost the momentum from the match before,” Atwood said. “We just made simple mistakes and we had an injured player.”
Danny Hoerman dislocated his shoulder in the semi-finals against The Breakfast Club. The injury occurred when Hoerman swung his arm to spike the ball, said a team representative.
James Meno said the Aggies could’ve played better but were tired from all of the games played and struggled without Hoerman in the lineup.
“We could’ve done better,” Meno said. “After playing so many games we got tired. Danny (Hoerman) has a good block and we needed that.”
Craig Wallace attributed the loss to being tired on a few important points of the final game.
Atwood also said that he was pleased with how USU did in the tournament despite finishing second.
“I’m way pleased, our team played really well,” Atwood said.
“We just got tired on a coupled of crucial points,” Wallace said.
He also said that expectations for this season are very high.
“I think its going to be a good year,” Wallace said. “We took sixth in the nation last year. This year we have high hopes with most of our players returning.”
The Aggies Started off the tournament sweeping the University of Utah winning both of the games by the score of 25-15.
Earlier in the tournament the Aggies swept The Breakfast Club two games to none winning the first game 25-19 and the second game 25-23.
USU seemed to have complete control in all of their games preceding the championship round.
With the loss of Hoerman in the middle, the team seemed to lose some of its defensive power and never did regain it.
The USU men’s volleyball team would like to thank the campus recreation for all of their help in having the tournament this year, Wallace said.
“We’re very appreciative of Campus Rec and their willingness to support club sports,” Wallace said.
For more information about the Utah State men’s volleyball team, students can visit their website at www.usu.edu/mensvb.
The Aggies next game will be held at the University of Utah Friday at 6 p.m.