Men’s volleyball opens home campaign against SLCC
The Utah State University men’s club volleyball team played a road exhibition match Tuesday and a home scrimmage on Wednesday in preparation for their first home match of the preseason.
On Tuesday, the USU A team traveled to Salt Lake City and played the University of Utah in an exhibition match. Utah State lost the match in four games, 25-17, 26-24, 23-25, 25-18.
“I’m really impressed with [Utah’s] team,” said outside hitter and A team captain Adam Longmore.
Utah finished fifth in the nation last year and Longmore said they seemed better this year.
“[Utah] will be one of the toughest teams we play,” he said.
The Aggies have their first home match today, but on Wednesday held an open scrimmage to allow fans to go out and see the team.
Longmore said B team captain Justin Keith came up with the idea after seeing other USU teams, such as the Lacrosse club, hold similar scrimmages.
Holding an open scrimmage is a good way for teams to gain some exposure at the beginning of the year, Longmore said.
Utah State had a turnout of nearly 100 fans at the scrimmage.
“I was pleased with the turnout and am looking forward to having a big crowd this weekend,” Longmore said.
To begin the scrimmage, the B team was split in half, allowing the players to compete against each other. The B team played one game to 25 before the A team split and took the court.
The Aggies played for nearly two hours and were playing mainly just to have a good time, Longmore said.
The A team consists of eight returning players and four new players and the scrimmage gave them a chance to play as a team in front of fans in the Spectrum.
Longmore said he thought some members of the team were nervous playing in the Spectrum, in front of a crowd. As a result, the team made a lot of errors, he said.
“It is good to get that out of the way before our actual games this weekend,” Longmore said.
He said the scrimmage could have been more organized, but the team is starting to play well together and they get along.
“I’m really impressed with everybody,” Longmore said. “They are a great group of guys.”
This Friday, USU was originally scheduled to play their first home match against Weber State University, but Weber canceled. In place of Weber, Longmore said a match was scheduled against Salt Lake Community College.
The match will start at 4 p.m. in the Spectrum with the USU A team playing SLCC. Later on Friday night, the USU B team will play the Weber State B team at 7:30 p.m. in the HPER Building.
On Saturday, USU will be playing at home again, this time against BYU-Idaho. The match will start at 7 p.m. in the Spectrum and both the USU A and B teams are scheduled to play.