USU Volleyball: Aggies fall to No. 7 BYU in straight sets
Provo — Utah State Volleyball fell to No.7 BYU in straight sets (8-25, 17-25, 14-25) in game one of the BYU Nike Invitational hosted by BYU.
The Aggies, coming off a victory over No. 12 UCLA just a week ago, came out slow against the Cougars only scoring eight points in the first set.
“We knew we would be in an environment that would put a ton of pressure on us in a lot of different ways. So many lessons you can learn from a loss like this,” head coach Rob Neilsen said on the loss.
Utah State achieved 21 kills and 26 digs in the loss, but what really stood out was the error count.
The Aggies’ 24 attack errors, with eight service errors, compared with the Cougars’ mere six was a large part of why the Aggies couldn’t get much going in the matchup.
USU had four aces, with freshman setter Leah Wilton-Laboy earning her first career ace with the Aggies.
A bright spot for Utah State in the match was UNLV transfer Shelby Capllonch. Capllonch, a senior outside hitter, led the Aggies in kills with six and 12 attacks, a 41% hit percentage and a 50% kill percentage with only one error.
“She is an unbelievably good volleyball player. Her serve puts pressure on teams. She passes really well and is a great attacker,” Neilsen said of the senior. “She does so many things well and we love having Shelby on our team.”
In a match between BYU and Duke a week ago, a Duke volleyball player revealed that a fan in BYU’s student section had said a racial slur directed toward her and her fellow black teammates, prompting the fan to be banned from future BYU events. Going into Provo with the knowledge of what happened could have put tension on the program. Coach Neilsen discussed what it was like in preparation.
“You try and not make it a thought, but we had a lot of conversations as a team,” Neilsen said. “Trying to get a sense of what really happened — as a team — and what was going on just trying to make sense of it. It’s about playing volleyball and doing what we love. Trying to change what we are going to do because of a couple bad actors is not the way to go.”
Neilsen, a former BYU men’s volleyball player and national champion, briefly touched on what it was like playing for BYU.
“I loved my time in Provo playing in front of these fans, I know a lot of great people even if a few made some headlines,” Neilson said.
The Aggies have two more matches in the BYU Nike Invitational, continuing with No. 10 Pittsburgh on Friday at 5 p.m. and Cincinnati on Saturday at 4 p.m. All games will be broadcast on BYUtv.
“It says a lot about where we have come,” Neilsen said about playing three top-15 teams in consecutive games. “It’s about learning lessons and if we can make a run in December. We learned a lot of lessons about what it takes to play with a great volleyball team.”
Featured image by Iain Laurence from a 2021 game against Fresno State.