Third and Final Tourney for Ag Spikers
USU women’s volleyball will play in its third and final preseason tournament this weekend, traveling to Berkeley, Calif., to test the competitive waters of the 2007 Golden Bear Invitational.
Play begins Friday with a game against the home team, the 15th-ranked California Golden Bears, at 8 p.m.
On Saturday, USU will play back-to-back games, first against the 12th-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers and later in the afternoon against unranked Eastern Kentucky.
USU Head Coach Grayson DuBose said that although his team is physically fit, he is interested to see how they respond to the quick turnaround game on Saturday.
“They’re in good shape, so physically I don’t think it affects them,” DuBose said. “It’s the mental side of it; are we going to be able to come back quickly? We’ll play at noon this weekend on Saturday, and then again at 4:40. So the turnaround time, that’s the hard part to recover from.”
The Aggie spikers will be looking to improve on their 2-4 record, although getting a win against the highly ranked Bears or Gophers is a tall order. The final match, the first ever meeting between Utah State and Eastern Kentucky, falls squarely in the winnable category.
Speaking on the high quality of his team’s opposition, DuBose said, “They are very good teams. Berkeley is good. They’re ranked in the top 15, and so is Minnesota. They’re big and tall and physical, so it will be a challenge for our team. Hopefully we learn some stuff from it and go and compete hard.”
Senior opposite side hitter Amanda Nielson leads Utah State with 5.18 points per game, 4.21 kills per game, 2.05 digs per game, .63 service aces per game, and .63 blocks per game.
Nielson has been named to the all-tournament team of both the 2007 University Plaza Wildcat Classic, hosted by the University of Arizona, and the 2007 Holiday Inn Classic, hosted by Montana State.
An interesting subplot of this weekend’s tourney will be Nielson, a West Valley native, trying to make it on three all-tournament teams in three tries.
Another angle to watch is the continuing development of USU’s six freshman players.
DuBose said the young players are “picking it up pretty fast. They’re learning what it takes to be a Division I athlete. They come out of high school, and you’re kind of the best player in your school. You get to the level that we play at, and you’re not the best player. It’s a learning curve for those guys; how do you eat, how do you sleep, how do you study, all those things.”
-graham.terry@aggiemail.usu.edu