Volleyball defeats San José on Senior Night
Utah State University celebrated its seniors Thursday night in a three-set sweep against San José State University.
The Aggies (22-5, 15-1 Mountain West) overcame the Spartans (12-16, 3-12 MW) in their final home match of the season at the Wayne Estes Center winning all three sets in front of a sold-out crowd.
“You can’t write a better ending,” head coach Rob Neilson said. “We got to start seven seniors. Everybody played really, really well. It was just a complete game from our team. I got a little weepy about midway through the third game thinking about when this group started here three, four years ago, what was going on in this gym and then what they’ve created since. This is just an unbelievably special group of people. I’m so grateful to our fans who honor them and have supported them and have come out and shown out. We’ve still got more to do and we’re excited for what’s to come in the next few weeks. But, what a great way to send the seniors out.”
Tatum Stall, Kennedi Boyd, Shelby Capllonch, Jordi Holdaway, Bia Rodrigues, Jill Schneggenburger and Inka Mehtola stood side by side as they reminisced on past victories in Club Estes. Combined, they have been a part of three Mountain West championships, including the 2023 outright regular season champions, 2022 tournament champions and a share of the regular season title in 2021.
Overall, the Aggies had 48 kills and 42 assists while keeping the Spartans at 23 kills and 22 assists. USU hit .386 (48-9-101) and SJSU hit .103 (23-14-87).
In the first set, USU went on a 9-2 run and took the lead to the end. Boyd, Stall, Adna Mehmedovic and Scheggenburger all took hard kills with an ace from Capllonch and Rodrigues’ 100th career ace to secure their first set win 25-16.
Set two took off from the beginning with a 6-1 lead. Separating themselves from the Spartans, Stall went in for another kill along with Capllonch and Mehmedovic. They won the second 25-12.
Set three proved much closer than the previous two. SJSU held on trailing just barely behind up until it was 9-8 for the Aggies. A kill from Stall pushed them apart and they never looked back.
When USU sat at 24 points, the Spartans held on for three in a row but Boyd finished it off with her last kill in Club Estes finishing the match 25-18.
Stall continued to find success logging 15 kills and hitting .500. Leah Wilton-LaBoy had 18 assists and Rodrigues accounted for 15. Her 100th career service ace put her in the books as the seventh player in program history to reach that number.
“It felt magical,” Rodrigues said. “Playing at the Estes is just amazing. It’s different from anything. The fans are incredible. People just come and show you how much they love you. The support is amazing. And we got the win. It feels good to share the court with them for one last time in here, and we won, so I couldn’t be happier.”
After winning 12 straight matches, USU will head to Fresno State (16-10, 10-5 MW) on Thursday at 7 p.m. (MT).