Senior night an Ag volleyball success
Going into her last match at the Spectrum, senior Kris Hymas told herself to have fun no matter what.
Hymas achieved her goal and recorded 12 kills and three aces as four Aggie seniors bid a fond farewell to the Spectrum Thursday night, defeating San Jose State in four sets (25-15, 25-20, 22-25, 25-22).
Down 17-19 late in the fourth set and up 2-1 in the match, the Aggies took a timeout to regroup.
“When we have a score like that, our team is really good at bringing each other up and making sure we stay confident,” said sophomore setter Chelsea Fowles. “Confidence is what wins matches for our team.”
After the time-out, two straight San Jose errors tied the game. After trading serves a few times, the Aggies pulled the score to 24-22, and a kill from freshman hitter Emily Kortsen ended the match.
“When you play to win and to have fun instead of not to make mistakes, that’s when it all comes together for you,” Hymas said.
Senior outside hitter Melissa Osterloh had 13 kills, 13 digs and a career-high five assists in her last home match. Kortsen had 12 kills in the match while hitting .522, and added a game-high seven blocks.
The Aggies blocked well, recording 14 team blocks compared to four from the Spartans.
“With blocking, it goes back to confidence,” Fowles said. “When we’re fired up and we’re excited, we just want to block the ball so bad, and that’s what we did.”
Hymas attributed the Aggies’ success to ball control.
“Chelsea (Fowles) was setting the ball really well,” she said. “I thought our ball control was really good.”
Fowles had a career-high seven kills, 43 assists and 10 digs, while hitting .778.
“She’s getting better and better all the time,” head coach Grayson DuBose said of Fowles. “She’s getting good and making really good decisions.”
Fowles credited her passers, noting the team’s “amazing” passing in the match.
After winning the first two games, the Aggies struggled in the third set, recording five service errors.
“Before the third game we talked about not missing serves, and I think sometimes when you talk about things too much, it just gets in your head and then you miss serves,” Fowles said. “I think that were weren’t focused enough.”
DuBose said it was disappointing to miss five serves and have no service aces, but the team was able to come back in the fourth game and play hard.
With the win, the Aggies improve to 8-6 in the WAC, while San Jose State drops to 5-8 in conference play.
Seniors Heather Hillier and Rebecca Anderson, along with Hymas and Osterloh, were honored before the game.
DuBose said the team loves playing in the Spectrum and was appreciative of the crowd support this season.
The Aggies will finish out the regular season next week with two road matches, first against New Mexico State on Thursday and then versus Louisiana Tech on Saturday.
–joseph.w@aggiemail.usu.edu
USU senior outside hitter Melissa Osterloh, 3, goes for a kill during Thursday night’s 3-1 victory in the Spectrum over San Jose State. It was Osterloh’s final home game at USU. (Patrick Oden)