Sept. 18, 2010

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

LOGAN, Utah - Junior outside hitter Liz McArthur recorded her ninth career double-double with 18 kills and 10 digs to lead Utah State to a four-set win (25-17, 20-25, 26-24, 26-24) against UC Riverside here Saturday in the final match of the 2010 Utah State Invitational.

Utah State improves to 12-1 on the season with the win and UC Riverside falls to 1-11 with the loss.

Loyola Marymount won the Utah State Invitational tournament title with a 2-1 record, while Utah Valley finished second with a 2-1 record. USU was the third-place team with a 2-1 record and UCR went 0-3 during the tournament.

Loyola Marymount's Felicia Arriola was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, while Olivia Bailey (Loyola Marymount), Kayli Doxey (Utah Valley), Chelsey Heaps (Utah Valley), Liz McArthur (Utah State), Christine Morrill (Utah State) and Katie Meyers (UC Riverside) were named to the all-tournament team.

McArthur (St. George, Utah) added four blocks and two service aces for Utah State in its match against UC Riverside, while sophomore opposite side hitter Shay Sorensen (North Ogden, Utah) had 10 kills. Junior opposite side hitter Emily Kortsen (Hollister, Calif.) added six kills and hit .545 (6-0-11), while senior setter Christine Morrill (Neola, Utah) finished the match with 28 digs.

Kelly Simpson had 21 kills and 16 digs to pace UC Riverside.

McArthur led Utah State to the easy set one win as she posted nine kills and hit .444 (9-1-18). USU hit .293 (16-4-41) in the set and UC Riverside hit .111 (10-6-36).

Simpson had seven kills to lead UC Riverside to the win in set two as the Higlanders hit .182 (16-8-44) and limited USU to a .147 (8-3-34) hitting percentage.

There were 20 ties and six lead changes in the final two sets as Utah State had to rally in both to post 26-24 wins. McArthur had six kills in the third set as the Aggies hit .263 (13-3-38), while Kortsen had six kills in the fourth set to led USU to a .316 (16-4-38) hitting percentage. UCR hit .184 (14-7-38) in the third set and .238 (15-5-42) in the fourth.

Utah State finished the match with a .258 (53-14-151) hitting percentage and UC Riverside hit .181 (55-26-160). USU also had eight more team blocks (15-7) in the match, while UCR had nine more digs (75-66) and three more service aces (8-5), but also had three more service errors (12-9).

Utah State will return to action on Thursday, Sept. 23 when it plays at nationally ranked Hawai'i at 11 p.m. (MT) in both teams Western Athletic Conference opener.