Volleyball drops first round of WAC tourney
It’s official: The Idaho Vandals are a better women’s volleyball team than USU.
The Vandals proved that last Wednesday in Reno, Nev., defeating the Aggies in four games (30-20, 30-16, 28-30, 31-29) in the first round of the WAC tournament.
These two teams met twice during the regular season (the last match coming as the final match of the season), and the Vandals took both contests.
The Aggies finish their 2006 campaign with a 13-19 overall record, including a 6-10 mark in conference action.
Junior outside hitter Beth Hodge led USU Wednesday with 15 kills and 10 digs to collect her eighth double-double of the season.
Redshirt freshman Melissa Larson, who was named to the WAC all-freshman team, added 12 kills and 10 block assists in the loss.
Opposite side hitter Amanda Nielson, who was named to the league’s second team, recorded seven kills and 13 digs.
As has been the case most of the season, the Aggies struggled early in the first two games, recording a .140 attacking percentage in Game 1, and a negative .028 percentage in Game 2.
In the Aggies’ Game 3 victory they hit .200 to the Vandals’ .085 mark.
Showing their character, the Aggies didn’t give up as they lost the final game by only two points.
The Vandals were led by Saxony Brown (12 kills and 34 assists) and Amanada Bowman (12 kills and 11 digs).
The bright side for the Aggies is their ranking at season’s end.
Picked to finish next to last in the Western Athletic Conference, the Aggie lady spikers went into the tournament as the sixth seed.
Not too shabby for a team that featured a rookie head coach in Grayson DuBose, as well as one senior in Libero Kelsi Peterson.
Hawaii wins another WAC tournament
The Rainbow Wahine captured their seventh-consecutive WAC tournament title Friday with a four-game victory (30-27, 30-20, 27-30, 30-22) over the New Mexico State Aggies.
It was also the third time the Wahine and the Aggies had played each other this season, with both teams winning on their home court.
The Wahine haven’t lost a WAC tournament since 1996 and 1997 when they lost to BYU.
The Rainbow Wahine’s Jamie Houston, a sophomore, was named the tournament MVP as she tallied 16 kills and seven digs in the championship match.
-sbhislop@cc.usu.edu