Nov. 22, 2003

Final Stats

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State had five players record double-digits in kills led by Zuzana Cernianska's 23 as USU out-lasted Cal State Northridge in women's volleyball here tonight in five games by scores of 30-21, 30-24, 25-30, 34-36, 15-11. With the win, Utah State improves to 18-11 on the season and finishes Big West Conference play with a 10-8 league mark. The Matadors fall to 16-11 overall and finished conference play with a 12-6 record with the loss.

Utah State was the only team in the Big West Conference to win both of its matches against Cal State Northridge this season, as the Aggies won its first match of the year at Northridge in four games.

Cernianska paced Utah State in the opening game with five kills and two service aces as the Aggies hit .314 in the game and scored six of the final seven points to notch the nine-point win. In game two, Cernianska came up big again for USU with seven more kills as the Aggies took control early with a seven point lead midway through and coasted to the six-point win.

Cal State Northridge rebounded to win game three behind 10 kills from Jen Ryan and seven from Jennifer Fopma as they hit a blistering .647 in the game with only one attack error, while USU hit .304 with just five attack errors.

In game four, the Matadors controlled much of the contest and held a 25-21 advantage before USU rattled off four straight points to tie the game. USU would eventually take a two-point lead at 29-27, but Northridge responded with three straight points to go ahead 30-29. Both clubs had several opportunities to end the game as Utah State had two match points and Northridge had three game points before the Matadors final won the contest 36-34.

In the fifth and final game, Cal State Northridge seemed to be on the way to a dramatic come-from-behind win with an 8-5 lead midway through, but Utah State fought back and scored 10 of the final 13 points to get the win.

Along with Cernianska's 23 kills, Mari Ruddick added 15 kills and eight blocks, and hit a team-high .345 in the match, while Beth Hodge added 13 kills and hit .273. Ingrid Roth recorded 12 kills and a career-high nine blocks, while Erin Cartwright-Davis had 12 kills, 10 digs and four blocks. Taubi Neves led all players in the match with 24 digs.

With her 12 kills, Cartwright-Davis now has 471 kills on the season, setting a new single-season kills record at Utah State. Neves also set a new single-season record as she now has 344 digs, breaking the old mark of 340 set by assistant coach Heather Olmstead during the 2001 season.

As a team, Utah State hit .289 as compared to a .242 hitting percentage for Cal State Northridge. The Matadors did have five more kills (85-80) and four more digs (80-76) in the match, while USU recorded seven more service aces (9-2) and 6.5 more team blocks (14.5-8.0).

Utah State concludes its regular season on Tue., Nov. 25 in a non-conference match at Brigham Young at 6 p.m. in the Smith Fieldhouse.

UTAH STATE 3, Cal State Northridge 2USU 30  30  25  34  15CSN 21  24  30  36  11