Volleyball locks up third seed in WAC tournament
Utah State volleyball imposed its will upon the New Mexico State Aggies Wednesday night, sweeping out the NewMags in straight sets, 25-21, 25-19, 25-20.
Streaks are meant to be broken.
The win was the first in the last 10 meetings between USU and NMSU in volleyball. The last time the blue Aggies triumphed against the crimson was in the WAC tournament semifinals of 2005. The win all but secured USU a third-place seeding for next week’s WAC tournament. Technically, Idaho could tie USU’s 9-7 WAC record by beating Hawaii on the road this weekend, but Hawaii is 15-0 in conference and will be playing Idaho on the islands.
In this match, the Utags rode the stellar effort of Shantell Durrant, Liz McArthur, and Laurel Bodily to victory. Durrant ended the night with 10 kills and 8 blocks, while McArthur posted 10 kills and 12 digs. McArthur’s double-double was her 13th of the season. Bodily scraped together 10 digs for the 18th double-dig performance of the season.
But it was a series of USU blocks near the end of the first set that really set the tone of this match. NMSU took the lead from USU after executing with precision on a 6-1 run. With less and less room for a comeback, the set appeared to be slipping through the hands of the northern Aggies. That’s when the Utags decided to throw a block party.
New Mexico State started to set its spikes on the left side of the net. Three times they tried, three times they failed. Rocio Gutierrez was the first to try her luck, but she was triple blocked by the ladies in blue. That block leveled the score at 20 apiece.
Two rallies later, the NewMags again went left, and again USU was there. Shay Sorensen, a sophomore from North Ogden, and Katie Astle, the senior from Sandy, were there to stop Kayleigh Giddens’s attempt to drive it home. As if she hadn’t learned anything from the previous encounter, Giddens tried to get past Sorensen and Astle again on the left end of the net and was subsequently shut down again by Sorensen and Astle. The Utags rode the wave of momentum to close out the first set 25-21.
That momentum carried very well through the second set. USU jumped out to an early 8-2 lead and never trailed. McArthur had four kills in the second set, and USU as a team had a hitting percentage of .182. The six-point win in the second set put USU in a favorable position. The Aggies had only lost one time this year when getting up 2-0 on the opponent.
The NewMags came into the third set looking awfully motivated to turn the match around. USU led 7-2 in the third, but then went on a 10-3 run to lead USU 12-10. After USU managed to tie the score at 13 apiece, the Aggies opened up on a run of their own, scoring six of the next seven points, breaking NMSU’s spirit, and never looking back.
USU has three days of rest before competing in the 2010 WAC Volleyball Tournament. The tournament will be held at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on Monday, Nov. 22.
– landon.hemsley@aggiemail.usu.edu