Women’s volleyball enjoys success in the Big West
It was a banner year for the Utah State University women’s volleyball team.
Under first year Head Coach Burt Fuller, the Aggies accomplished a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, a 20 win season and a No. 22 ranking in the latest USA Today/American Volleyball Association Coaches poll.
“I’m very pleased with our season,” middle blocker Erin Cartwright said.
Senior middle blocker Michelle Matheson said, “Not a lot of people had faith in us, and I think we surpassed expectations.”
Before achieving their success this season though, the Aggies had hurdles to overcome, the first being a new head coach.
Fuller joined the team last spring after a seven-year stint as an assistant coach at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“It wasn’t that big of stretch to coach,” Fuller said. “In the gym I felt very comfortable and [assistants] Shay [Clemensen] and Matt [Johnson] are part of that. There isn’t a good program around that doesn’t have good assistants. I give a lot of credit to those guys.”
The second obstacle for the Aggies was recovering from the loss of four seniors off a 22-10 squad that made a second round NCAA appearance. The Aggies looked to their seven returning players and eight newcomers to fill the void.
During the season, Matheson and outside hitter Shauni Fluckiger both earned Big West Conference Athlete of the Week honors and three players earned USU Athlete of the Week.
Matheson finished the season second all-time for the Aggies in total blocks, block assists and hitting percentage, while setter Chelsi Neves finished second in assists. Defensive specialist Heather Olmstead finished
second in career digs and established the single-season record for digs.
“I don’t want to say they surprised me, but I will say they performed really, really well,” Fuller said. “I think you’re only surprised when you do well when you don’t have faith in your kids and we always had faith in our kids.”
The Aggies started their season with two tournaments at Colorado State University and at Hawaii.
In the first tournament, USU picked up two early wins against Murray State University and Arkansas University before falling to No. 14 Colorado State.
At Hawaii, the Aggies earned a 3-2 victory over the University of Cincinnati but fell to both No. 10 University of Hawaii and No. 6 University of Southern California in three games.
Both Fuller and his players said the preseason helped the team come together.
“I think the team kind of clicked during our preseason,” Fuller said.
Cartwright said, “Those trips were the times when we got to know each other and I think it really helped us.”
Returning home for conference play, the Aggies continued to play ranked teams. In only their second home match, USU played No. 19 University of California, Santa Barbara to five games before falling 13-15 in the deciding game.
“I think the key turning point in our season was when we lost to Santa Barbara in five,” outside hitter Melissa Wilton said. “It was a really heartbreaking match. From then on we made a pact we’d go upward.”
The Aggies did go upward, reeling off seven straight wins. During the stretch the Aggies recorded a five-game home victory against No. 12 University of the Pacific. It was the Aggies’ first win over Pacific since 1981.
The Aggies also earned an upset on the road against No. 13 BYU.
After winning seven straight, the Aggies dropped road matches against No. 23 Santa Barbara, No. 15 University of Utah and California Polytechnic Institute.
The 2-3 loss to Cal Poly would be the Aggies only loss to an unranked team.
“We lost a match down at Cal Poly and it was the one match all year we lost to somebody that, at least rankings wise, was below us,” Fuller said. “If that was our worst loss all year we had a great year because Cal Poly is a good team.”
USU started November by snapping its three-match skid with four straight sweeps and would finish the month 8-3. The only loses came to No. 17 Pacific and No. 1 Long Beach State University, twice.
The Aggies finished the regular season 19-10, fourth in the Big West Conference at 12-6 and earned their second straight NCAA Tournament invitation.
For the NCAA Tournament, USU traveled to the University of Utah, regional host of the first and second rounds, to face No. 19 BYU.
In a five game nail-biter, the Aggies pulled out the 16-14 win, earning a trip to the second round.
The following night, the Aggies met Utah for the second time of the season, losing 1-3 to end their season with a 20-11 record.
The successful season and postseason appearance will help the Aggies in the future by gaining the players experience and building confidence, Fuller said.
The Aggies are losing five seniors, but have four freshmen who had an opportunity to learn behind the seniors.
Freshman Andrea Delsigne is currently the only setter on the roster and will have to fill the space left by the departure of Neves.
Delsigne didn’t play much during the season, but said she had an opportunity to learn from Neves.
“It’s a huge learning experience,” Delsigne said. “By sitting and watching all the games I learned so much by watching her [Neves] and she tells me all of her little tips.”
Looking back on the season, the Aggies had several memorable matches, but said it will be the team they remember most.
Fuller said, “I’m going to remember, obviously, some big wins for our program, but more than that I’m going to remember some of the trips we had and just getting to know these kids.”
Wilton said she’ll remember the moments at matches and her teammates, especially the seniors.
“I’m going to remember just seeing everyone’s faces, especially after the BYU game [in the NCAA Tournament],” she said.