Spikers falter again in BWC
Another Utah State volleyball player was out with injuries and another was injured during play in the Aggies’ 3-0 loss to Long Beach State Saturday night in the Spectrum.
Red-shirt freshman Carolyn Forbush was out with a sprained ankle and sophomore libero Kelsie Thoman may be out next week after hitting her head going after a ball during the game.
“Ever since our last time we faced Irvine and Long Beach, every week our team has been a different rotation,” Thoman said. “We’ve had to adjust to another player being lost. I think we’re dealing with the adversity well. [But] we still have more to learn. With all the hits that are coming our way, I think we’re doing pretty well. We’re not coming off with wins, but I think we’re coming off a better team.”
“We have five starters on the bench,” Utah State Head Coach Burt Fuller said. “They just had more kids that are healthy than us [and] we had to get more comfortable in our brand new lineup. Twenty minutes before we come out to warm up we were doing a walk-through. How many changes can we go through? [Thoman] bangs her head and I think ‘oh gosh, we’re going to lose another one.'”
During game one, the Aggies struggled getting the ball where it needed to go and fell 30-16. In the second game, the Ags came out stronger and even had the lead for a little while, going up 11-10. However, the 49ers went on a 7-1 run to put them up 17-12. USU fell 30-21.
The third game was much better for the Ags. They went up 1-0 and had the lead for the second and final time in the match. But, the Niners weren’t able to hold the Aggies back for the entire game. At the end of the match, USU had a run to bring the game to 28-29. Long Beach was able to get the last point for the win.
“[By the third game] I think we got to know the hitters a lot better,” Thoman said. “We got to know our side.”
Fuller said he commended the team’s efforts throughout the game and how they improved throughout the game. He said the team has had some tough times, but it has done a nice job of coming together and coming out to play ever week.
“It’s all we can do,” he said. “It’s the ability for us to be together. It’s a nice group of kids. We’ve had some bad breaks, literally and figuratively, and they understand what adversity means and that how you deal with adversity shows true character. Our practices aren’t down. We aren’t in mourning. We aren’t wearing black armbands. We’re out there playing a game and we’re together.”
Thoman said for her, it is frustrating to lose so many players to injuries, but she said the team gets through it.
After each new injury and each new game she said she looks at the last game and how well the team did with who they were missing. When a new hit comes, she said that team just goes out and responds.
“Our word of the year is compensation,” she said. “The people who are still around and still healthy have to compensate for those that are out.”
For Fuller, this is the toughest issue he said he has ever had to deal with in volleyball – playing or coaching. He said, however, it is something that is not unheard of.
“You’ve seen teams that have gone through this,” he said. “Ohio State, last year, was pulling people off the women’s basketball team to play. They were down to six kids. You see that every once in a while and you go ‘wow, how do you do it.’ But you do it, you get through it. I think our kids are doing a tremendous job of accepting roles and positions and situations and frustrations.”
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu