Spikers rally to defeat BYU
After a one-sided game apiece for both teams, the women’s volleyball match between Utah State University and BYU turned into a battle of attrition.
Fortunately for the Aggies, they were able to seize momentum in the fifth and decisive game en route to a 30-14, 21-30, 28-30, 30-28, 15-11 victory over the Cougars Tuesday night in the Spectrum.
“Anytime you beat a BYU team, you’re beating a great program, so it was a great win for our kids,” said USU Head Coach Burt Fuller.
Perhaps more importantly, the win gives USU (7-8, 1-4 in the Big West Conference) the momentum it desperately needs for BWC matches, said freshman middle blocker Ingrid Roth.
“Since we’ve had kind of a rough road in the Big West Conference, we needed this win to turn [things] around, and I really think it is going to,” she said.
The Aggies were able to turn things around following two straight Big West losses in the opening game.
USU went on five runs of at least four consecutive points as it surged to an easy victory in the first game. The Aggies held the Cougars to an atrocious -.172 hitting percentage in the game.
BYU would rebound.
Led by Long Beach State transfer April Varner’s four kills, the Cougars turned things around offensively as they hit .423 in the second game. Varner led the Cougars with a team-high 17 putaways.
With momentum on its side, BYU took a 10-5 lead in game three, and the Aggies found themselves in a bind.
However, USU would battle back behind the play of right-side attackers Erin Cartwright (19 kills), Zuzana Cernianska (19 kills), and Hailey Seedall (13 kills).
“We have good right-side hitters, and we’ve had success against BYU on their right side,” Fuller said.
The Aggies would take the lead at 17-15, before the Cougar tandem of Karina Puikkonen and Carrie Bowers took over. Puikkonen and Bowers combined on two blocks in three points, and BYU survived a late USU charge to take a 2-1 lead.
Puikkonen and Bowers were thorns in USU’s sides the entire match as each player finished with 10 block assists. The Cougars finished with a whopping 18 team blocks for the match.
Down 2-1, the Aggies and Cougars traded mini runs in the fourth game. With BYU up 19-17, the Aggies turned to Cartwright, and the junior responded as the Aggies scored eight straight points on her serve.
After BYU cut a 28-22 Aggie lead to 28-27, Cernianska got the Aggie crowd on their feet with two straight spikes to knot the match at 2-2.
“I think the crowd gave us a lot of momentum,” Cartwright said. “I think when we get excited, when we jump around and scream, the crowd gets more in to it.”
The momentum carried over into the fifth game, with USU taking a 4-0 lead.
Two Zuzana kills and a Tereza Cernianska ace gave USU its fourth victory over BYU in its last five matches.
-jasonwturner@cc.usu.edu