Spikers grab two victories at N.M. tourney
It wasn’t a perfect start to the 2006 season, but Grayson DuBose will take it.
The first-year Utah State University volleyball coach led his young team to capturing two of their three matches over the weekend at the New Mexico Tournament.
The Aggies opened tournament play Friday with a four-game victory (30-16, 30-26, 28-30, 30-27) over the New Mexico Lobos.
The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks took the Aggies in four games Saturday morning (27-30, 20-30, 30-28, 11-30), and USU then defeated the UC Riverside Highlanders Saturday evening in three games (30-26, 30-21, 30-25).
“It’s kind of what I expected,” DuBose said. “You want to win every match, but the reality is that’s not gonna happen. But I’m pretty pleased. We were on the road. [Our team is] learning a new system, they’re learning a new offense, a new blocking system. With pretty limited amount of time in the gym, I think we showed some nice improvement.”
Junior outside hitter Beth Hodge led the Aggies in their game-one victory with 17 kills and 15 digs.
It was also a career-high night for middle blocker Monarisa Ale, who tallied 14 kills and 14 digs.
Ironically, DuBose worked as an assistant coach for the Lobos for only one season in 2001, making the victory a little sweeter for him personally.
“That kind of makes it fun, to come down and beat the guys who didn’t want to give you a job when you were here before,” he said.
Other than that, DuBose said, it was a good win against a good conference such as the Mountain West.
The loss to the Ladyjacks didn’t come as a surprise. They are a team that has six starters back from last season’s squad that finished with a shiny 28-3 record, including a 19-0 mark in Southland Conference play.
In contrast, the Aggies have two starters and five letterwinners from their 2005 team.
“That’s kind of a nice deal for those guys,” DuBose said of the Ladyjacks. “They’re kind of polished. They’re further along than we are at this point of the season because they have more experience than we do.”
Amanda Nielson, with 15 kills, was the only Aggie to record double figures.
Nielson also found the spotlight in her team’s three-game victory over the Highlanders. She recorded 20 kills and seven digs.
DuBose noted it was a positive thing to see players like Nielson come through in learning the new system he has implimented.
“Just to see the lightbulb go off was kind of fun,” he said.
Kelsi Peterson recorded 11 digs to lead USU.
The Aggies will not be in action again until Sept. 2 when they travel to another tournament – this time to the Cal State Northridge Tournament – where they will play two games.
-sbhislop@cc.usu.edu