Utah State volleyball falls in nail-biting match against Wyoming
Utah State University’s volleyball team lost a heartbreaker to the Wyoming Cowgirls in five sets on Oct. 17. Although the Aggies got off to a rough start, the team managed to keep things competitive throughout the night and were only a few breaks away from securing its third win of the season.
The first set was not a competitive affair, with the Cowgirls scoring first, and the Aggies only able to tie the set once, resulting in a 25-13 loss.
In the second set, the Aggies seemed to play with renewed fire. They briefly traded leads with the Cowgirls, but managed to string a five-point run together to take an 11-6 lead. USU would not relinquish the lead for the remainder of the set, helped in part by the team’s kills, and won 25-20.
The third set was tightly-contested, with the lead being traded a total of 10 times and neither team leading by more than four points. Wyoming ended up on top in the end, however, winning the set 25-21.
The fourth set was another nail-biter, as the lead switched hands up until the score was 22-21, but the Aggies were able to maintain the lead after that and forced a fifth set with a win.
Aggies narrowly lose fifth set:
Staying true to the way the game unfolded up to that point, the fifth and final set was equally as competitive. No team was able to gain the upper hand, until Wyoming was able to earn the two points necessary to win the set, and would take the set and match, 15-13.
While it is difficult to lose such a hotly-contested match up, there was a lot of good the team can take away. One bright spot is the play of Freshman Outside Hitter Hailey Cuff. Coach Grayson Dubose, when asked if he liked seeing the aggressive style of play from his team on blocks and kills said, “Hailey Cuff has really started to figure it out… in the last couple of matches, she’s done a fantastic job.” Cuff led the team in kills with 17, and also registered an ace.
Coach Dubose was also happy with the way his team rallied back after falling in the first set. “They started to compete. They started to do the things we asked.”
Overall, the team should be happy with the way they played against Wyoming and with the message they have sent to the rest of the Mountain West. As coach Dubose said, “we’ve shown that we can do some good things.”
Up next:
The Aggies will play no. 14 Colorado State in Logan, on Oct. 19 at 1 p.m. They then go on the road to face Fresno State, on Oct. 24.