Nov. 30, 2001
Final Stats
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Utah State's second straight NCAA Touranment appearance ended Saturday night at Crimson Court on the campus of the University of Utah with a four game loss to No. 13 Utah by final scores of 30-21, 30-18, 26-30, 30-22. USU ends its season with a 20-11 record and back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in 19 years.
Utah State is now 2-2 all-time in the NCAA Tournament advancing to the second round in both of its appearances. Last season, USU lost at No. 12 BYU in the second round in three games.
"Looking back on the season I think we did a great job," said first year Utah State head coach Burt Fuller. "We won some really big matches against some awfully good teams.
"Utah played an outstanding game tonight. They have great athletes and they block well. They represent the state of Utah well and I think they will do well in the rest of the tournament."
Utah State and Utah played toe-to-toe in the first game before Utah closed with a 13-4 run to winning the opening stanza. The Utes carried that momentum into game two and notched an easy 30-18 win. Utah State fought back and won game three before the Utes closed the match with an eight-point win in the final game.
Individually for Utah State, sophomore Erin Cartwright hit a team-high .333 in the match with 13 kills, five digs and four blocks. Senior Lisa Borom also added 13 kills for the Aggies. Senior Chelsi Neves posted a team-high 15 digs in the match to go along with seven kills.
Utah State hit .189 as a team as compared to .357 for Utah. The Utes also won the battle at the net, posting 14 team blocks in the match to just seven for the Aggies.
