Spartans go down in four games
Following an almost embarrassing choke just one game earlier, the Utah State women’s volleyball team was on the winning side of a comeback to defeat San Jose State University Saturday night in the Spectrum.
After coming out on fire in the first game, Utah State allowed SJSU to take the second game. Near the end of the third game, the Spartans were up 27-22 and ready for the win. But the Aggies posted a comeback – much like the one they allowed Fresno State the match before.
Erin Graybill led Utah State in the game-three surge, with two blocks and a kill. USU went on to score eight of the final nine points in the game to give the Ags the win.
“Nice to be on the winning end of a big comeback,” Utah State Head Coach Burt Fuller said. “After our last match when we weren’t on that end. It ‘s nice to see the kids play hard to get that comeback.”
Zuzana Cernianska led the Ags for the night with 28 kills. In the first game alone, she had eight kills and two aces, leading the Aggie team to a 10-point win, 30-20.
“Zuzana has those abilities [to attack],” Fuller said. “When she is doing well, we can’t just sit back in awe and watch her. We’ve still got to maintain those abilities and help out.”
After game one, however, the match went downhill for the Aggies. With three USU errors early on in the game giving SJSU a four-point lead, the Aggies set the pace for the rest of the game. Hitting and service errors abounded as San Jose was able to pick up the four-point win, although Utah State scored most of the points – for both teams.
“We were trying to end the play with one swing,” Fullers said. “Hitting balls wide, going for the little shots, the tip shots. We just stopped attacking the block. We have to attack the block. We have good hitters that hit the ball high and hard. We’re not going to beat people by little rolly-polly tips.”
However, not attacking the block wasn’t the only problem for the Aggies.
“I think it just got quiet,” Aggie senior Erin Graybill said. “When something got wrong, people were getting down on themselves. We weren’t backing each other up as much.”
Fuller said Graybill performed well for the Aggies again. She led Utah State in hitting percentage with a .550. Graybill finsihed the night with 12 kills and four blocks.
After the break, the Spartans again took the lead over the Ags in the beginning of game three. SJSU left the Aggies behind, jumping out to an early 15-7 lead behind several more Aggie errors.
Down by five in the final stretch of the game, Utah State started posting a comeback. After tying the game at 27, two kills from Hodge and a block by Graybill gave the Aggies the 30-28 win.
In the fourth and final game, both teams traded the lead throughout the game. Once again, the game was tied at 27. A hitting error from SJSU’s Jennifer Senftleben and two aces from Beth Hodge gave the Ags the 30-27 win.
Hodge finished the night with 17 kills and a career-high 15 digs. Senior Ingrid Roth led the Aggies defensively with nine blocks and eight kills.
The Aggies head on the road again, facing UVSC Monday night in Provo.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu