Spikers win

For Utah State volleyball senior Kindy Peterson, it wasn’t the perfect senior year that every athlete dreams of. But Utah State’s win over Cal State Fullerton Saturday night in the Spectrum wasn’t a bad

way to say goodbye.

“It was a great senior night,” Peterson said. “Just great.

Even though senior nights are traditionally done during the last home game of the seaon, Utah State Head Coach Burt Fuller said he had a couple of reasons to move it forward.

“It’s our last Saturday match at home,” he said. “On a Tuesday before Thanksgiving there might not be the same amount of people here. With her parents down her for sure, I thought it would be a nice opportunity to do senior night.

“Sometimes senior nights are tough, but she had a great senior night and we wanted to win this one for her and so we were really happy we got that win.

It was not an easy night for the Aggies, Fullerton made sure Utah State worked hard for every point it put up on the board.

During game one, the Titans stayed even with the Aggies, with the lead changing seven times. But toward the end of the game, Utah State, led by Ingrid Roth, started to pull away. The Aggies won 30-25.

Game two started out much differently with Fullerton quickly going up 4-0, then 11-3 on the Ags. It wouldn’t stay that way for long, however. With Amanda Fahnestock on fire, the Ags posted a 14-4 run at the end of the game to win 30-25 and go up 2-0 over the Titans in the match.

“It was good gutsy performances by some of our kids,” Fuller said. “We didn’t have great performances throughout from everybody. They have some talented kids on their team. We just kept saying let’s keep hanging in there and things are going to turn around, we needed to stay aggressive.”

Game three was an emotional roller coaster for both the teams and their coaches. The game started out much like the first one, but Fullerton came alive with an 11-2 run and eight blocks that put them ahead of USU 20-11.

“They didn’t change anything,” junior Zuzana Cernianska said, “we just hit into the block.

Some controversial calls by the referees had both coaches upset. Fuller even received a yellow card after one. The Titans continued to lead and were up 27-18, they were looking for their first win of the night.

But Utah State wasn’t ready to give it up.

“We couldn’t get around them and we needed to do something different,” Peterson said. “We started hitting different directions and were able to get around the block.”

A 9-2 desperation run at the end of the game brought the Aggies closer, but it wasn’t enough for the win as they fell 30-27.

Game four followed the pattern set by game two. Fullerton had an early run and an early lead to go up 12-6 with the fifth game in sight. But Utah State, once again, was not going to give up easily.

“We just don’t let ourselves get down,” Peterson said. “In the beginning we can fall behind, but we don’t give up. We keep fighting. I think other teams think when they get ahead they can relax and they don’t realize that we’re a fighting team.

Led by Cernianska, the Ags posted another strong comeback and tied the game at 17.

“Zuz had a great match,” Fuller said. “As a setter, she was our second leading scorer. She did a nice job for us tonight. She has to balance that between how much of the game she is going to take over and how much she is going to keep her hitters involved. I think now she’s been setting for six matches now and she is starting to get a real good feel for that.

“She is still a threat. She’s got a great arm and can dump the ball from a high spot and teams have to expect that.”

“She’s an animal,” Peterson said. “I love having her on the court. Even when she’s not a hitter she has a lot of kills. With a perfect pass she’ll ram it down their throats.”

Again, however, during the fourth game, the referees had some controversial calls and kept the coaches and players on both teams upset. Cernianska said she had a hard time keeping her focus because she was getting mad easily.

“[Game four] was a rough one,” Fuller said. “Our kids stayed composed. I always tell them, ‘if your coaching staff gets excited that’s OK. You guys just stay composed.’ They did a nice job of that in a couple of their comebacks.

Utah State was able to keep fighting and held on to their fragile lead to win the game 30-28 and the match 3-1.

Carolyn Forbush led the way for the Aggies with 15 kills. Cernianska had a triple-double for the night with 13 kills, 46 assists and 18 digs. Peterson and Ingrid Roth also had double-digit kills with 12 each.

Fuller said he is proud of how the team is coming along and improving. He said each player has been stepping up and helping out.

“Jessica Chick is finally starting to be a real good passer and a real good finisher,” Fuller said. “She was our second best passer tonight. It’s nice for her that she can go out there with confidence and get

some digs, pass some balls and keep us involved in the play.

Despite the fact that the team can no longer qualify for the Big West Conference Tournament, Fuller and Peterson both said the Aggies are still playing the best that they can and that each win is still important.

“It’s huge for us,” Fuller said. “Where we are right now as a group, these wins are good for us. Fullerton is coming off two huge wins. Looking at their Web site, it’s the biggest weekend of their program’s history.

“They beat Pacific and Northridge back to back in five. By no means are we looking at records or anything like that, we are just out there trying to win games. We think we beat a very good team tonight, and we think we played well to get that done.

“I think right now we have a pretty positive attitude,” Peterson said. “It’s wonderful, I can’t even explain the feeling, it’s just great. It’s awesome for [the team] too because all the younger girls are getting experience and they are going to be really good team.”

The Aggies will finish their conference play with two games on the road this weekend against Pacific and Cal State Northridge.

They have one final home game on Tuesday Nov. 23 at 7 p.m. against Hawaii.

-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu

Kindy Peterson goes around a CS Fullerton block during the match. Peterson was honored by her team as part of senior night. (Photo by John Zsiray)

Caroyln Forbush spikes the ball over CS Fullerton player Saturday. (Photo by John Zsiray)