Oct. 20, 2001
Final Stats
MOSCOW, Idaho - Utah State's women's volleyball team, ranked 29th in the country in the latest AVCA Poll, survived a five-game match here Friday night to improve to 11-4 on the season and 7-1 in the Big West Conference, while the Vandals fell to 7-10 overall and 2-6 in league play with the loss. USU has now won its last seven matches.
Things looked bleak for the Aggies, losing the first two games 30-25 and 30-27 after hitting for a negative percentage in game one and a .052 percentage in game two. However, USU found a way to get some momentum going a pulled out a 31-29 win in game three. After that it was all Aggies, as Utah State cruised to a 30-19 win in game four and a 15-6 win in game five.
"It was obvious that we were flat early on in the match and Idaho was playing very well," said USU head coach Burt Fuller. "I thought they (Idaho) were very well prepared for the match and are a well coached team.
"We were able to get a few things going in the third game and got a close win, and had some solid senior leadership and a lot of mature play in the fourth and fifth games. We are very fortunate to steal this one on the road."
Individually for Utah State, senior middle blocker Michelle Matheson (Moreno Valley, Calif.) had a team-high 15 kills to go along with seven blocks and seven digs. Sophomore middle blocker Erin Cartwright (Wellsville, Utah) added 13 kills, 13 digs and six blocks, while junior outside hitter Shauni Fluckiger (Providence, Utah) had 12 kills and a team-high 19 digs.
As a team, Utah State hit just .122 in the match, but held Idaho to a .105 hitting percentage. The Vandals notched 12 more digs in the match along with two more team blocks, but it was USU who won the service battle with six aces as compared to none for Idaho.
Utah State will return to action on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at No. 18 Utah. USU will then conclude its five-match road swing with a pair of conference matches at Cal Poly and No. 23 UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 26 and 27. USU's next home match will be on Thursday, Nov. 1 against Cal State Fullerton at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum at 7 p.m.
