Volleyball dominates Wolf Pack in three sets on senior night
Sophomore outside hitter Josselyn White and junior outside hitter Liz McArthur each posted 10 kills to lead the Utah State Aggies (19-8, 7-7 WAC) over the Nevada Wolf Pack (13-14, 7-7 WAC) in three sets Friday night in their home finale (25-23, 25-21, 25-16).
“I thought we played well for a long period of time,” Aggie head coach Grayson DuBose said. “That was one of our goals. We have this phrase, ‘we want to be good over time,’ and I thought we were good over a long period of time tonight. We weren’t real high. We weren’t real low. We were just steady.”
The Aggies were able to avenge an earlier road loss (3-1) to the Wolf Pack as well as gain ground in the WAC standings. The Wolf Pack didn’t go quietly, but the Aggies were able to remain consistent the whole match.
“I think it’s a huge advantage being at home and with it being senior night, everybody wanted to win for us,” senior setter Chelsea Fowles said. “We had more emotion in this match.”
With the first set knotted at nine apiece, Wolf Pack junior outside hitter Erin Garvey and sophomore middle blocker Janelle Batista committed attack errors to give the Aggies a lead they would not relinquish. The Wolf Pack did make a push late in set, as they were trailing 23-18. A kill from senior outside hitter Kylie Harrington spurred a 5-1 run, but Aggie sophomore opposite side hitter Shay Sorenson pounded a kill to end the run and the set.
“It’s a combination of us being able to serve tough, getting those guys out of system, and then we stayed in system,” DuBose said. “I didn’t think we passed well the first half of the first set, but then I think we steadied out a bit.”
In the second set, the visiting Wolf Pack jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead before Sorenson pounded a kill that led to a 10-2 Aggie run. The Aggies would cruise to a second set victory, as they led by at least four points the rest of the match. What was most impressive for the Aggies in the second set was their ability to dig out tough balls and create points.
“We controlled a lot of balls and we were able to turn them into points,” DuBose said. “I thought that was very critical. We were able to get digs and turn them into points. We call those creates and converts and we want to be able to create opportunities and then we want to convert them. I thought we did a nice job with that.”
The third set was knotted at five apiece before McArthur pounded a kill to spur 12-3 Aggie run that put the set and match completely out of reach. Sophomore libero Laurel Bodily, who started in place of senior Christine Morrill (game-time decision due to illness), came up with three huge aces as part of the 12-3 run.
“Serving-wise, we are an awesome serving team, and for everyone to serve well on the same night makes it more obvious of how good of servers we really are,” Fowles said.
DuBose said, “I thought we served really well especially in that third set.”
The Aggies are now in fourth place in the WAC standings and control their own destiny with two road games left to close out the season. The Aggies will play Louisiana Tech, currently in last place, tonight at 6 p.m. MST. The Aggies defeated the Lady Techsters in three sets in the Spectrum. The Aggies will close the season at second-place New Mexico State on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
– ty.d.hus@aggiemail.usu.edu