Spikers rally to win
The Aggies overcame a 2-0 deficit and rallied to beat Idaho 3-2 in a match that saw no game decided by more than four points.
Erin Graybill came up big for the Aggies (16-9, 8-3), recording a career-high 20 kills and hitting .421. Graybill had eight kills in game three alone, a game in which she went down with a twisted ankle. She returned to the match to pick up eight more kills in the next two games.
“I was sick coming in. I couldn’t breathe very well,” Graybill said. “Then when my ankle hurt, all of the sudden I could breathe. I was thinking of something else.”
Zuzana Cernianska, the Aggies’ leader in kills, also went down with an injury, tweaking an already tender ankle in game four. This was just her second game back on the roster after twisting her ankle.
Like Graybill, Cernianska also returned to the match.
The win marked the first match of the season in which the Aggies rallied from 2-0 to win.
Of the first two games, USU Head Coach Burt Fuller said, “We weren’t leaving enough skin on the floor. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a team here have that kind of will after being so flat early.”
The injuries forced Monarisa Ale and Jessica Chick to step in for Graybill and Cernianska respectively.
“I thought Jessica Chick went in and did a great job,” Fuller said. “She had six digs in a real short amount of time. There’s a kid that hasn’t played a whole lot, but busts her tail every day in practice and responded.”
The Aggies had 18 errors in their first two games, while Idaho (13-11, 5-6) had only 10.
“We were just so flat and playing with no emotion,” Aggie setter Dominique Arsenault said.
Graybill said, “I felt like I was doing so horrible in the first two games. I was surprised that I ended up doing OK.”
Beth Hodge led the defensive charge for the Aggies with 21 digs and libero Kelsi Peterson added 19.
The Vandals were led by Amanda Bowman with 20 kills while Haley Larsen had 19. Meghan Brown recorded 25 digs for Idaho and freshman Sarah Loney had 10 kills on .320 hitting after being named WAC player of the week.
The Aggies have now won the last seven meetings at home against the Vandals and remain undefeated at the Spectrum in WAC play this season.
USU has two games remaining at home before they hit the road.
They will face Boise State on Saturday before playing host to ninth-ranked Hawai’i on Wednesday.
-benwalker@cc.usu.edu