Sept. 11, 2010
Final Stats
MISSOULA, Mont. - Sophomore outside hitter Josselyn White had eight kills and a career-high seven block assists to lead Utah State to a sweep of North Dakota (25-19, 25-15, 25-19) here Saturday to win the 2010 Montana Invitational.
Utah State improved to 9-0 on the season with the win and is off to its best start to a season since the 1979 AIAW National Runner-up team won its first 11 matches. North Dakota fell to 8-3 on the year with the loss.
Sophomore opposite side hitter Shay Sorensen (North Ogden, Utah) was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, while senior setter Chelsea Fowles (Hollister, Calif.) and senior libero Christine Morrill (Neola, Utah) were both named to the all-tournament team.
Sorensen, who hit .278 during the tournament and averaged 2.64 kills and 1.18 blocks, posted career-highs with 14 kills and five block assists earlier Saturday against Temple. Fowles hit .526 during the tournament and averaged 8.64 assists, 1.73 digs, 1.00 kills and 0.45 blocks, while Morrill averaged 5.00 digs per set.
Sorensen had seven kills, five blocks and four digs against North Dakota, while junior outside hitter Liz McArthur (St. George, Utah) had eight kills. White (Smithfield, Utah) added four digs and two service aces to go along with her eight kills and seven blocks, while senior middle blocker Katie Astle (Sandy, Utah) had eight block assists.
Annika Smed had 10 kills and 13 digs to pace North Dakota.
Utah State hit just .095 (6-4-21) in the opening set, but still won by six points as it used a 6-1 run early on to break an 11-11 tie. North Dakota hit .138 (13-9-29) in the opening set, but had nine attack errors to go along with four service errors.
McArthur led Utah State with five kills in set two as the Aggies scored 11 of the final 12 points en route to the 10-point win. USU hit .150 (13-7-40) in the second set and held UND to a negative .108 (7-11-37) hitting percentage.
In the third and final set, Utah State scored four straight points to break a 17-all tie to notch the sweep. USU hit .139 (11-6-36) in the final set and held UND to a .000 (9-9-40) hitting percentage.
Utah State finished the match with a season-low .134 (30-17-97) hitting percentage and North Dakota hit .000 (29-29-106). USU also had 10 more team blocks (17-7) and five fewer service errors (8-3) in the match, while UND had eight more digs (46-38) and one more service ace (4-3).
Utah State will return to action on Tuesday, Sept. 14 when it travels to Provo, Utah to face Brigham Young at 7 p.m. The match will be televised live on BYUTV.
