Volleyball drops final match of the season
The Utah State women’s volleyball team fell to Fresno State University on Saturday in a five-set marathon. Senior outside hitter Liz McArthur led the Aggies with 18 kills and finished with a .196 hitting percentage.
“Liz did a nice job,” head coach Grayson DuBose said. “Even when our ball control broke down, she was hitting really well. Liz took some gutsy swings.”
USU recovered from another slow start in the first set to tie the score at 14-all. The Aggies defense kept the Bulldogs within striking distance before Fresno used a 5-1 run to take the first set. Sophomore opposite-side hitter Korrin Wild had a big night for Fresno, finishing with 27 kills.
McArthur recorded four early kills, as the Aggies raced to a 14–7 advantage to start the second set. A balanced Bulldog attack, helped by several Aggie errors, shrunk that lead as Fresno stormed back to a 17–16 lead, midway through the set.
A Utah state timeout didn’t slow Fresno down at all as the Bulldogs cruised to a 25–19 set win.
After dropping the first two sets the Aggies rallied to force a decisive fifth set.
With help from junior outside hitters Josselyn White and Shay Sorensen, McArthur led the Aggies to a three-point advantage midway through the third set. USU’s defense kept the Bulldogs in check, and Utah State came away with the 25–20 set win.
“We’re a good blocking team,” DuBose said. “Our block has gotten better. We took advantage of that.”
Utah State used that momentum to build an early lead and was well on the way to forcing a fifth set. Leading 19–11, the Aggies saw their comfortable lead erased as the Bulldogs used a 13 – 5 run, to knot the game at 24.
Fortunately for USU, McArthur, the lone senior, kept her composure, delivered a service ace and the Aggies held on for a 26–24 set victory to extend the match.
McArthur finished with three service aces and passed Niki Conner for ninth place on Utah State’s all-time list. McArthur now has 95 career service aces, to Conner’s 94.
Fresno State started quickly and never let up during the fifth set, preventing Utah State from completing the comeback. Sorensen tallied three kills midway through the set, and the Aggies crawled to within one, but the Bulldogs used a 5-1 run to take the set and the match.
Senior middle blocker Brianna Clark had three kills in the decisive run and finished with 14 kills for the Bulldogs.
Utah State hit .118 during the fifth set, while Fresno hit .474. The Aggie defense had a solid showing with 16.5 blocks, while holding Fresno State to a .218 hitting percentage. Unfortunately for USU, the offense struggled throughout the night, finishing with a .167 hitting
percentage.
Dubose was pleased by his hitters.
“We have three real nice hitters out there,” Dubose said. “We give ourselves chances. You have to be good on the antennas, and we are.”
Utah State finishes the season with a 12-16 record, finishing 7-7 in the WAC. Fresno improves to 13–14, with a 7-7 record in WAC play.
The Aggies and Bulldogs will meet again in the first round of the WAC tournament Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m. Fresno State earns the fourth seed, with Utah State at the fifth seed by virtue of a head-to-head tiebreaker.
– curtis.lundstrom@aggiemail.usu.edu