Box Score
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Utah State volleyball was in a two-set hole, but came back to post a five-set victory over San José State on the road on Thursday night. The victory marked the first for the Aggies in league play, moving to 3-11 overall on the year and 1-2 in the Mountain West. SJSU dropped to 5-7 and 0-3 in conference with the defeat.
Senior setter Kassidy Johnson recorded her second straight double-double, and fifth in the last seven matches, with 38 assists and a career-high 21 digs. Senior libero Tasia Taylor was just behind with 17 digs.
Utah State was able to capitalize on Spartan errors throughout the night as SJSU finished with 33 attacking errors and 16 service errors. The Aggies were able to limit their own mistakes, hitting .235 (46-14-136) to San José State's .204 (67-33-167), and won the battle at the net with an 11.5 to 8.0 advantage on the block.
SJSU took an early two-set lead after capturing each of the opening frames 25-19. Utah State trailed 8-7 in the third set before putting together four-straight points to take an 11-8 lead following a kill by sophomore outside Gabbi Shumway. Shumway tied for the team lead with 10 kills at the end of the contest, matching junior right side Izzie Hinton-Belnap. The Aggies never trailed again in the third set, extending their margin to as much as six and eventually taking the set, 25-20.
Utah State led start-to-finish in the fourth set after opening the frame on a 4-1 run that included a kill by sophomore outside Bailey Downing and three errors by the Spartans. The Aggies increased their advantage to as much as nine at 21-12 and captured the set by a similar margin, 25-16, following back-to-back errors by San José State.
The Aggies wrapped up the match by utilizing a pair of four-point runs in the fifth set to take a 4-1 lead early in the stanza and a 12-9 lead late in the frame. The final four-point swing by Utah State included back-to-back blocks by freshman middle Corinne Larsen, who finished the match leading the Aggies with six blocks overall.
Utah State took its first match point at 14-11 behind a kill by Hinton-Belnap and then punctuated the come-from-behind victory, 15-12, with Hinton-Belnap's 10th kill of the contest.
San José State was paced by a trio of double-digit attackers in Latahevai Lousi with a match-high 22 kills, followed by Caitlin Bettenay and Fernanda Vido with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Both Bettenay and Vido each finished with a double-double, logging 13 and 12 digs, respectively. Luiza Andrade led the Spartan back row with a team-high 20 digs.
The match marked the first time since the 2016 season that Utah State had overcome a two-set deficit to come back and win in five sets. Coincidentally, that match also occurred on the road as the Aggies posted a 3-2 victory over New Mexico in Albuquerque.
Utah State will remain on the road for its next match, traveling to Reno, Nev., for a match with Nevada on Saturday at 2 p.m. (MT). Fans can follow the match via live stat and live video links on the Utah State volleyball schedule page, online at www.utahstateaggies.com.
Follow the Aggie volleyball program on Twitter @USUVolleyball, on Facebook at USUVolleyball or on Instagram at @usuvolleyball. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program at @USUAthletics, on Facebook at Utah State University Athletics or on Instagram at @USUAthletics.
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