Volleyball wins Montana Invitational, improves to 9-0
USU Volleyball headed to the Montana Invitational in Missoula, Mont. in hopes of winning all three games and advancing to 9-0 on the season.
They succeeded.
“The girls did very well this weekend,” head coach Grayson DuBose said. “We didn’t play as well as I would have liked to see, but we played well enough to win. We have done better in the past, but the girl’s level this weekend, was at least what we needed.”
One of their goals for this season, however, was winning on the road. “So far, we have done a really good job of that,” DuBose said
Friday’s game, the first of the tournament, was against Montana. Outside hitter Liz McArthur had 18 kills, while setter Chelsea Fowles added eight kills of her own to lead Utah State to a four-set win. (25-13, 25-17, 21-25, 25-20)
“Montana is a really good team,” DuBose said. “They won their conference last year and I was really happy to have beat them.”
McArthur had nine digs and three service aces for Utah State, finishing the match with a .271 hitting percentage. Fowles hit .583 and added 43 assists and six digs. Sophomore opposite side hitter Shay Sorensen added a career-high eight kills in this match.
USU trailed 6-4 in the first set, but scored five straight points, going on a 21-7 run, coasting in to the 12 point win.
The Ags finished the second set with a 6-1 run, winning by eight points.
The Grizzlies rebounded in the third set with a 7-2 run, turning a 16-14 deficit into a 21-18 lead, winning eventually by four points.
In the fourth set, USU used a 7-1 run to post a 5 point win.
Temple was next to suffer defeat at the hands of USU’s squad, falling to a 2-6 season record. Sorensen recorded a career-high 14 kills in the four-set match. (20-25, 25-15, 25-11, 25-22)
USU dropped the first set against Temple, only the second time this has happened in the season. The Owls scored seven straight points to break a 10-10 tie, leading them to the five-point win.
The team came together during the second set, to earn a 10-point win, scoring the last six consecutive points.
McArthur and Sorenson both had four kills in the third set, leading USU to a 14 point win. (USU scored the first seven points.) During the third set, USU hit a .429, where Temple only hit a .061.
USU led in the fourth set until Temple made a comeback, rallying to tie the set 20-all. With the set tied at 22-all, the Ags scored the final three points to bring in another win.
North Dakota was Utah State’s last opponent on Saturday.
Utah State hit just .095 in the opening set, but still won by six points as it used a 6-1 run early on to break an 11-11 tie.
McArthur led Utah State with five kills in the second set, as the Aggies scored 11 of the final 12 points, earning another 10-point win.
In the third and final set, USU scored four straight points to break the 17-all tie, sweeping all wins for the weekend.
“I was really proud of Shay this weekend,” DuBose said of the tournament MVP. “She is really becoming a confident player, and a confident hitter.”
DuBose also pointed out the outstanding play from seniors Katie Astle and Shantell Durrant. “They both make life so much easier for the rest of the players and have high percentages. Really great players.”
The volleyball team will return to action this Tuesday at BYU. The game will be televised via BYUTV.
“Of course we want to beat BYU. We always do. We are going to worry about our side of the net during that game. Our offense is as good as anybody else’s, and that’s what we will focus on. But we just take everything one match at a time. We worry about the next game, and that’s it,” DuBose said.
– kayla.clark@aggiemail.usu.edu