Spikers get revenge on Wolf Pack
As Kelsi Peterson put it, Saturday’s five-game win over the Nevada Wolf Pack was “the best senior night ever!”
As good as it was, it was almost perfect.
Peterson, the lone senior on the USU women’s volleyball team, was serving for USU in Game 5 with a 15-14 lead with her team needing only one more point to cap a five-game come-from-behind victory.
Unfortunately for her, it didn’t quite work out that way.
The Wolf Pack got the serve back, but a service error and an attack error by their side gave the Aggies their 13th win of the season (28-30, 28-30, 30-25, 30-27, 17-15) in the final home match of 2006.
“I had goose bumps,” Peterson said of her final serve. “I knew we were going to win. I almost wanted to start crying then. It’s rare you have those moments in competitive life. I’m glad I got one more in. This might be one of the best wins of my career.”
Peterson, who came to USU as a walk-on and is the all-time leader in digs at the school, ended the match with 20 digs and two kills.
Outside hitter Beth Hodge led the Aggies with 20 kills and 11 digs. Four other Aggies recorded double-digits in kills.
Freshman Hailey Jeppson recorded 19 kills and 12 digs, Melissa Larson tallied 14 kills and Danielle Taylor and Amanda Nielson had 11 kills each.
Game 5 could have gone a little bit more smoothly for the Aggies had it not been for six attacking errors collected (three of which came from Hodge).
Because Game 5 in collegiate volleyball only goes to the first team to score 15 points, those errors become even more magnified.
“Wow. We made a couple errors that could have doomed us,” Aggie Head Coach Grayson DuBose said. “But our team fought back and showed some character in that fifth game. That was kind of good.”
The score was knotted at 11 before the Wolf Pack’s Teal Ericson (who had a match-high 23 kills) recorded a kill to give her team the lead. That was followed by Hodge hitting the ball into the net to give the Wolf Pack a two-point cushion two points away from victory.
That’s when DuBose called a timeout.
What did he tell his team?
“Whatever it was, it was genius, for crying out loud,” DuBose said with a laugh. “I just told them to relax. You looked in the girls’ eyes and they all looked the same. They looked confident. That hasn’t always been the case for us in the fifth game.”
It was no doubt one of the best-played matches by the Aggies this season. Nearly every statistical category was won by USU.
Their .242 attacking percentage was better than the Wolf Pack’s .217. Their 31 attacking errors were less than the Wolf Pack’s 36. Their 10 service errors were fewer than the Wolf Pack’s 13.Their 13.5 team blocks nearly doubled the Wolf Pack’s total of seven. Their four service aces bested the Wolf Pack’s three. Their 70 blocks were more than the Wolf Pack’s 66.
“Today was a different day than what we’ve had this whole season,” Peterson said. “Our pre-game was awesome. We were so confident going into that match. It totally showed on the court. It just gelled tonight. It was so exciting.”
The Wolf Pack took Games 1 and 2, both of which were back and forth and could have gone to either squad.
The Aggies led by as many as four points midway through Game 1, and had the same-sized lead at a few points early on in Game 2, but both times the Wolf Pack fought back by capitalizing on USU errors and putting in solid offense of their own.
Amazingly, the two-game deficit didn’t deter the home squad.
“Eventually you learn some stuff and learn how to handle the pressure a little bit,” DuBose said. “When it counted [Hailey] was real good under pressure, which has not been characteristic of our team so far. But it’s a learned process.”
Game 3 was the same see-saw before a 5-2 run at the end thanks to two kills from Hodge and one a piece from Nielson. Jeppson and Taylor closed it out.
The Aggies took a 25-19 lead (the largest of the match) late in Game 4 before taking the game.
DuBose said a major factor for the higher intensity level from his team in the match was a direct result of higher intensity in practice. Due to injuries this season, he hasn’t been able to practice all 13 members of the team together. But in preparation for the match against the Wolf Pack, he was finally able to do so.
“That’s kind of ratcheted things up a little bit,” he said. “The competition level has gotten better. They did a great job.”
There’s no better time for the Aggies to be playing well. Only two games remain (at Idaho and at Boise State), but those are teams that are not as good as the Wolf Pack.
Two road wins would put the Aggies in much better position for the WAC tournament, which takes place in Reno, Nev. Nov. 22-25.
-sbhislop@cc.usu.edu