Nov. 14, 2002

Box Score

LOGAN, Utah - Erin Cartwright (Hyrum, Utah) recorded 18 kills, eight digs and six blocks to lead Utah State to a three-game win over Cal State Northridge at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum tonight by final scores of 30-24, 30-16 and 30-23. With the win, USU improves to 14-13 on the season and 7-8 in the Big West Conference, while the Matadors fall to 11-13 overall and 5-10 in league play.

"Our players followed our game-plan tonight and we played a pretty good match," said USU head coach Burt Fuller. "I think we are maturing a little bit as a team and it is a nice time of the year to be getting better. It feels good to win four matches in a row, which is something we haven't done in a long time."

In game one, Utah State rallied from an early four-point deficit to tie the match at 14. With the game tied at 20, USU closed with a 10-4 run to record the win. Cartwright paced USU in the opening stanza with six kills as the Aggies hit .415 overall.

The Aggies jumped on the Matadors early in game two, building a 7-3 lead. CSN cut that lead to two at 9-7 only to see USU go on a 15-3 run to push the score to 24-10 en route to the 30-16 victory. USU hit only .206 in the game, but held CS Northridge to a -.154 hitting percentage.

In the third and final game, both teams battled back and forth as USU held a slim 19-18 advantage. Once again, the Aggies made a late push and ended the match by scoring 11 of the final 15 points to notch the win.

Individually for Utah State, Cartwright hit a team-high .567 (18-1-30), while junior Tereza Cernianska (Prague, Czech Republic) hit .579 with 12 kills. Senior Rickie Rigby (Mount Pleasant, Utah) added 10 kills for USU as she hit .318 in the match.

As a team, Utah State hit .328 overall and held Cal State Northridge to a .083 hitting percentage. USU also notched 11.5 team blocks in the match to just 2.5 for the Matadors.

Utah State will play its final home match of the season on Sat., Nov. 16 versus Pacific at 7 p.m. in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.