Spikers looking for first Big West victory
It’s back on the road after only a two home-match break for the Utah State University women’s volleyball team.
The Aggies (5-6, 0-2) will travel to Moscow, Idaho to take on the University of Idaho (4-6, 1-1) Saturday at 7 p.m.
Utah State started by playing its first nine matches on the road and then returned home where it dropped its first two Big West Conference matches. Saturday’s match begins a three-match road swing for the Aggies, who are looking to rebound against the Vandals.
“It’s going to be difficult to rebound anywhere, but we’ve got nine matches on the road and only two matches at home,” said Aggie Head Coach Burt Fuller. “We’ve probably played two of our worst matches at home, so maybe we’re more comfortable on the road.”
Utah State opposite Zuzana Cernianska said she expects the team to play better against Idaho, and hopefully pick up its first conference victory.
Tereza Cernianska, Aggie outside hitter, said she wants to show Idaho the Aggies are a good team.
Last season in two matches, the Aggies went to five games with the Vandals before pulling out a pair of victories.
In its most recent match, UI pulled out a five-game victory over Boise State University, and the Vandals have won three of their last four matches.
“They’ve got to be feeling pretty confident right now about us coming up there, and are probably really hungry for us to come up there,” Fuller said. “We just have to go up and we have to play as if we really, really think that’s an important match. Not overplay and put extra pressure on ourselves, but play with the sense of purpose, not urgency.”
Aggie opposite Hailey Seedall said, “I think we’re going to be really competitive, and that’s what we have to do to win. I think we’re sick of losing. We want to win.”
Utah State only returns three starters and six letterwinners from last season’s NCAA tournament team, and is incorporating nine newcomers – five of them freshmen.
For the Aggies, it is a matter of getting the players much-needed experience as well as getting the team comfortable playing together, Fuller said.
“We’re starting to understand how we want to play,” he said. “We’re just inexperienced. Hopefully, we’re not saying that all the way through the season. Hopefully, it will click in at some point.”
Seedall said the team has started to come together and the team has confidence during practice. The Aggies just need to transfer that confidence over to match play, she said.
“We just had some kinks that needed to be worked out,” she said. “We’ve come together more as a team, it feels like this week. Hopefully, this weekend things will go better.”
The Aggies are currently on a three-match skid, and had not lost back-to-back home conference matches since the end of the 2000 season. The last time USU lost three conference matches in a row was the 1998 season.
“We’ve got some kids on this team that are not used to losing, and that’s good,” Fuller said. “They want to win, they don’t like losing. We as coaches aren’t happy with moral victories, we need ‘W’s.”
Following its match against Idaho, USU will continue its three-match road trip Oct. 4 against the University of California Santa Barbara, and Oct. 6 against California Polytechnic Institute.
-slbk5@cc.usu.edu