Oct. 21, 2000

Box Score

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State's women's volleyball team won its fifth straight match tonight at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum by defeating Cal State Fullerton in three games by scores of 15-9, 15-13, and 15-3. The Aggies improved to 17-5 on the year and 7-2 in the Big West Conference with the win. USU has won 15 of its last 17 matches after starting the season with a 2-3 record. The Titans dropped to 7-14 overall and 2-7 in league play with the loss.

"I thought both teams came out with a lot of energy tonight," commented second-year head coach Tom Peterson. "We had to be scrappy and play good defense to win this match, and that is what we did. Cal State Fullerton has improved a lot since we played them earlier this year and then did some very nice things against us offensively."

As has been the case recently for Utah State, the Aggies came out firing on all cylinders in game one in building a commanding 13-2 lead. However, Cal State Fullerton refused to die and fought back to close the game to 13-9 before USU was able to put them away. The Titans opened game two the way they ended game one and raced out to a 6-1 lead. Utah State then scored three of its next four points on service aces and eventually tied that game at eight points apiece. From that point on it was nip and tuck for both teams before the Aggies finally won a hard-fought game 15-13. In the third game, Utah State was flawless as they hit .765 in the game with no errors to cruise to the 15-3 win.

Individually for Utah State, senior Amy Crosbie (Visalia, Calif.) had an solid match with a team-high 12 kills to go along with nine digs and two blocks. Sophomore Rochelle Currier (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) continued her impressive play as of late with six kills to go along with a team-high 14 digs. Senior Denae Mohlman (Shoreline, Wash.) had another stellar match at the middle blocker position with 11 kills and two blocks as she hit .556 in the match. Junior setter Chelsi Neves (Otto, Wyo.) continues to why she is regarded as one of the best setters in the conference as she hit .533 with nine kills, three blocks, and four digs to go along with 34 assists. As a team, Utah State hit .349 for the match, while Cal State Fullerton hit .123. USU out blocked the Titans 11 to 4 and had nine more digs.

Utah State will close out its six-match homestand this Monday, Oct. 23 versus Idaho at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum at 7 p.m. USU will then hit the road for two crucial Big West matches at UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly on Oct. 27 and 28.