USU volleyball loses pair of road games over the weekend
USU volleyball had a tough week on the road after suffering losses against both San Diego State and Fresno State.
Utah State first traveled to San Diego, Calif., to go against San Diego State on Thursday. During the match, freshman outside Whitney Solosabal led the Aggies with 10 kills and senior setter Kassidy Johnson racked up 20 of USU’s 24 assists. Senior libero Tasia Taylor recorded seven digs.
In the first set, the Aggies were able to break a 5-5 tie and lead with a four-point run. The Aztecs answered back with their own four-point run to tie the set, 9-9, before playing to another 15-15 tie. After the triple deadlocks, San Diego slid in and took the set 25-22.
During the second set of the night, another 9-9 deadlock was reached before the Aztecs lit up the court with an eight-point run to put them at an advantage point of 17-9. The Aggies never recovered from that blow and lost the set 25-15.
Even though the final set of the night resulted in a closer score of 25-20, Utah State hit -.033 (6-7-30) and never grew into an offensive rhythm.
Unfortunately, this was just the beginning of another disappointing week on the road for the team. After the contest with San Diego State, USU sat at 5-19 on the year and 3-10 in the Mountain West Conference.
Next, the team traveled to Fresno, Calif., to play the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon. The Aggies lost in another three-set match (21-25, 23-25, 16-25) to their dismay.
This time around, sophomore outside Gabbi Shumway led on the offensive end with nine of 22 total kills during the match. Johnson proved to be an asset once again to the Aggies with 19 assists, just 10 shy of reaching No. 7 all-time in Utah State history in career assists. Taylor led USU on the back again with 13 digs.
Fresno State led the first set from start to finish after taking the lead, 2-0, early on. After lagging behind, 18-10, Utah State started to creep up on the lead with a four-point run of their own. That small burst was not enough to pull ahead, because the Bulldogs took off and reached set point at 24-18. Another small three-point streak by the Aggies put the set at 24-21, thanks to a block by Johnson and freshman middle Corinne Larsen, but a Fresno State kill ended it all 25-21.
Both teams fought back-and-forth a number of times in the second set, beginning with the Aggies taking the lead at 5-3, before the Bulldogs retaliated with a five point run a little later in the game to land them at a closer 13-12 lead. What did Utah State do next? They answered the call by putting up two points with a kill by freshman middle Preslee Jensen, and a block by Jensen and sophomore outside Bailey Downing, reaching slight 14-13 lead. The lead was short-lived, because Fresno State attacked with a 9-1 run to sit at a 22-15 lead. USU pushed forward and sat within a single point, 23-22, thanks to a kill by Shumway, but the California team finished up the set 25-23.
Utah State was able to overcome an 8-3 gap in the third set and turn it into a 14-11 lead after going on a 11-3 spree. The burst was once again overturned by Fresno State, who snapped back and finished out the match with a 14-2 run to end the night 25-16.
The Aggies will be back in Logan to close out the home portion of their season on Thursday, Nov. 8 to take on Colorado State at 7 p.m, with the home finale and Senior Night on Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. against Wyoming.