Volleyball to begin Big West Conference play
With only six returning players from last year’s squad, Burt Fuller, head coach of the Utah State University women’s volleyball team, said he knew his team would experience some early season growing pains.
Now nine matches into the season, the Aggies (5-4) will see how much they’ve grown when they open Big West Conference play Thursday against the University of California Irvine. The match is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. in the Spectrum.
“I think what we needed was time on the court, and we definitely got time on the court with nine matches,” Fuller said.
When the Aggies take the Spectrum court for the first time this year Thursday, they will face a UC Irvine (6-3) squad that has more wins than it did a season ago. All six starters return for an Anteater team that went 4-23 a year ago.
“From what I hear, they’re a much improved team,” Fuller said. “This might be the year that they start to make their move [in the conference].”
One Anteater who has really asserted herself this season, Fuller said, is Kelly Wing. The sophomore outside hitter currently leads the Big West in kills (175) and kills per game (5.30).
Although Wing paces the Anteater offense statistically, Fuller said it is 2001 all-Big West Conference selection Chanda McLeod that leads the team. With McLeod and Wing playing well for the Anteaters, he said USU can ill afford to hone in on one player defensively.
“I haven’t seen what they’re doing with [Wing], but between her and McLeod, they have two really good attackers,” Fuller said. “Last year Chanda was the one that was really scoring. Now we just can’t focus on one person.”
If the Aggies want to continue their recent success in the BWC, they must serve the ball with more control, Fuller said. Utah State has already committed 92 service errors – far too many with only nine matches under its belt, he said.
“We’re letting people off the hook too easy by putting a serve into the middle of the net, and that’s something we just have to get better at,” he said. “We’re losing games at the service line.”
While the Aggies have struggled with serving, Fuller said they have made huge strides with their offensive attack. USU is hitting .233 for the season, but hit a whopping .335 over its last three matches.
“We’re starting to get a better feel for our offense,” Fuller said. “However, I think our defense is not where we need it to be yet.”
Leading the attack for the Aggies is Erin Cartwright and newcomer Zuzana Cernianska. First and second on the team in kills, (139 and 138, respectively) both Cernianska and Cartwright have finished with 10 or more putaways in every match this season.
Cernianska and Cartwright are also tied for the team lead with 81 digs apiece.
Following its match against UCI, USU will return to action Saturday when it hosts No. 5 Long Beach State University.
-jasonwturner@cc.usu.edu