WEEKLY AGGIE UPDATE - OCTOBER 31, 2022
Weekly Aggie Update
FOOTBALL
Contact: Doug Hoffman - (435) 797-3714
This Week
Sat., Nov. 5 --- New Mexico, 1:30 p.m. (CBSSN)
• Utah State football (3-5, 2-2 MW) continues Mountain West play this week as it hosts New Mexico (2-6, 0-4 MW) on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 1:30 p.m. USU is 15-13 all-time against the Lobos, including an 8-4 home record. The game will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network (Xfinity Ch. 269/753 HD, DISH Ch. 158, DirecTV Ch. 221).
Last Competition
L, 14-28 --- at Wyoming
• Graduate senior running back Calvin Tyler Jr. rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, while true freshman quarterback Bishop Davenport added a rushing touchdown of his own, but it wasn't enough as Wyoming beat the Aggies 28-14. Former Utah State quarterback Andrew Peasley, now in his first season with the Cowboys, was 13-of-26 passing for 199 yards through air, to go along with 29 yards rushing on six carries. Davenport was 17-of-26 passing for 104 yards and rushed for 19 yards on 18 carries. Graduate senior wide receiver had five catches for 45 yards for the Aggies, while junior wide receiver Terrell Vaughn had five receptions for 21 yards. Wyoming running back Titus Swen led all rushers in the game with 160 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries. The Cowboys scored the first 14 points of the game before Davenport scored on a five-yard run to make it 14-7 with 3:48 to go in the second quarter. Wyoming led 17-7 at the break, though, after John Hoyland kicked a 43-yard field goal. Utah State pulled to within 17-14 with 7:09 remaining in the third quarter after Tyler scored on a 31-yard run. Unfortunately for the injury-riddled Aggies, that's as close as they would get the rest of the way. Hoyland kicked his second field goal of the game, this time from 51 yards out, to make it 20-14 with 3:06 left in the third, and Swen cemented the win with his third rushing touchdown of the night, a six-yarder with 4:11 remaining in the fourth. The Cowboys had possession of the ball for more than 35 minutes on the night, and tallied 28 first downs – more than double the Aggies' 13. Wyoming finished with 529 yards of total offense and held USU to just 217. Utah State senior inside linebacker AJ Vongphachanh finished with a game-high 10 tackles, while graduate senior safety Hunter Reynolds and junior outside linebacker Kaleo Neves added eight stops apiece.
WOMEN'S TENNIS
Contact: Ashley Springer - (435) 797-5547
Next Week
Fri.-Sun., Nov. 11-13 --- at CS Northridge Invite, All Day
• Utah State's women's tennis concludes its fall schedule at the CS Northridge Invitational from Friday through Sunday, Nov. 11-13.
Last Competition
NTS --- at ITA Regionals, Las Vegas, Nevada
• Utah State competed at the ITA Regionals three weeks ago in Las Vegas, Nevada. Junior Lisa Küng led the Aggies with a 4-2 mark, including a 3-1 record and a quarterfinals appearance in doubles action along with graduate Monique Burton. Sophomore Indya Nespor advanced to the quarterfinals in Flight 2 singles, finishing the week with a team-best 3-1 mark in singles action.
VOLLEYBALL
Contact: Ashley Springer - (435) 797-5547
This Week
Thur., Nov. 3 --- at Fresno State, 7 p.m. (MT) (MWN)
Sat., Nov. 5 --- at San Diego State, 2 p.m. (MT) (MWN)
• Utah State volleyball (15-8, 7-5 MW) continues Mountain West action this week with a pair of road matches at Fresno State (6-18, 0-12 MW) on Thursday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. (MT), and at San Diego State (6-17, 4-8 MW) on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 2 p.m. All-time, the Aggies are 18-20 against the Bulldogs and 11-17-1 against the Aztecs. Both matches will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network and available at www.utahstateaggies.com/watch.
Last Week
W, 3-1 --- at Boise State
L, 2-3 --- UNLV
• Utah State went 1-1 in Mountain West action last week with a 3-1 win at Boise State and a 3-2 home loss to UNLV. Against the Broncos, USU hit .336 (50-14-107), its best road hitting percentage of the season, while holding BSU to a .137 (42-26-117) mark. Three Aggies finished the match with double-digit kills as sophomore opposite side hitter Adna Mehmedovic had 13, senior opposite Kylee Stokes had 11 and junior outside hitter Tatum Stall had 10. Freshman setter Leah Wilton-LaBoy led USU with 25 assists, while sophomore setter Beatriz Rodrigues added 19. Defensively, redshirt sophomore libero Jordi Holdaway had a match-best 16 digs, while graduate middle blocker Myrthe Maring had a match-high seven blocks. Against the Rebels, USU hit .242 (72-32-165), while UNLV hit .244 (60-21-160). Stall led the Aggies with a career-high 27 kills, the most by an Aggie since 2016. Senior outside Shelby Capllonch and sophomore outside Adna Mehmedovic added 11 kills each, while senior middle blocker Kennedi Boyd hit a match-best .533 with 10 kills. Wilton-LaBoy led USU with a career-best 37 assists, while Rodrigues added 27. Defensively, Capllonch led USU with a match-high 23 digs, followed closely by Holdaway with 20. Boyd led the Aggies with a match-best six blocks.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Contact: Ajay Salvesen - (435) 797-2066
Next Week
Mon., Nov. 7 --- COLLEGE OF IDAHO, 3 p.m. (MWN)
Fri., Nov. 11 --- SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA, 3 p.m. (MWN)
• Utah State's women's basketball (0-0, 0-0 MW) begins the 2022-23 season with a pair of home games as it hosts College of Idaho (0-0) on Monday, Nov. 7, at 3 p.m., and Southeastern Louisiana (0-0) on Friday, Nov. 11, at 3 p.m. Both games will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network and available at www.utahstateaggies.com/watch.
Last Week
W, 74-45 --- FORT LEWIS COLLEGE (Ex.)
• Junior guard Tamiah Robinson scored 19 points and graduate forward Abby Wahl pulled down 15 rebounds as Utah State won its exhibition against Fort Lewis, 74-45. USU shot 37.0 percent (30-of-81), including 23.3 percent from 3-point range (7-of-30) and 58.3 percent at the free throw line (7-of-12). Fort Lewis shot 30.2 percent overall (16-of-53), including 20.0 percent from behind the arc (3-of-15) and 71.4 percent at the free throw line (10-of-14).
CROSS COUNTRY
Contact: Wade Denniston - (435) 797-1361
Next Week
Fri., Nov. 11 --- at NCAA Regionals, Albuquerque, N.M., 10 a.m.
• Utah State's cross country teams continue their postseason at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships on Friday, Nov. 11, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Last Week
M: 3rd/9; W: 3rd/11 --- at MW Championships, Laramie, Wyoming
• Utah State's men's and women's cross country teams both placed third at the Mountain West Championships, held last week in Laramie, Wyoming. Sophomore Ana Weaver earned second-team all-conference honors on the women's side, while graduate senior Darren Harman and senior Camren Todd garnered second-team all-league accolades on the men's side. Weaver completed the six-kilometer course in 20 minutes, 24.1 seconds to place 13th and help the Aggies, who were predicted to finish fourth, record 99 points. Senior Mica Rivera nearly gave USU a pair of second-team all-league honorees as she placed 15th with a time of 20:27.2. No. 2 New Mexico captured the team title with 24 points and No. 20 Colorado State placed second with 61 points. Senior Abby Jensen was the third Aggie to cross the line as she placed 20th with a time of 20:34.2, while sophomores Emma Thornley (20:38.8) and Kaybree Christensen (20:51.3) finished 24th and 32nd, respectively, to round out Utah State's five scoring runners. In the men's 8K race, No. 24 Utah State scored 74 points to place third. No. 5 Air Force captured the team title with 20 points and Colorado State finished second with 47 points. Todd placed ninth with a time of 23:58.4 to lead the Aggie men. Harman finished 10th with a time of 24:00.2 and graduate senior Mark Crandall crossed the line in 16th place with a time of 24:07.8. Rounding out the five USU scoring runners was junior Yonas Mogos in 18th (24:17.9) and junior Max Wehrli in 21st (24:20.4).
MEN'S TENNIS
Contact: Daniel Hansen - (435) 797-8584
This Week
Wed.-Sun., Nov. 2-6 --- at ITA National Fall Champs., San Diego, California
• Utah State men's tennis concludes its fall tournament season at the ITA National Fall Championship in San Diego, California, from Wednesday through Sunday, Nov. 2-6, where the Aggies will be represented by senior David Cierny.
Last Competition
NTS --- at Utah Open
• Utah State competed at the Utah Invitational last week, compiling an 11-1 record in singles matches against opponents from Weber State and Utah. Junior Stijn Paardekooper led the way with three straight-sets victories, defeating WSU's William Zulch (6-3, 6-1) and Tristan Sarap (6-4, 6-3) plus Utah's Geremia Rossi (6-3, 6-4). Paardekooper also earned one of USU's two doubles victories on the weekend, combining with senior Roko Savin to defeat Utah's Dylan Applegate and Charlie Spina, 8-5. Savin also went 3-0 in singles play with wins over Utah's Rian Ta (6-2, 7-6 (7) and Charlie Spina (6-0, 4-6, 6-1) plus WSU's Chia-Chieh Lin (6-2, 5-2, retired). Senior Javier Ruiz went 3-0 in singles matches with wins over Utah's Spina (7-5, 6-3) and Ta (4-6, 6-4, 6-4) and a walkover win over WSU's Lin. Sophomore Christian Holmes finished 2-1 in singles, defeating Utah's Dylan Applegate (6-4, 7-6 (5)) and Weber State's Matteo Savio (6-1, 6-3). Ruiz and Holmes also earned a walkover win over WSU's Lin and Savio in doubles play.
SOCCER
Contact: Daniel Hansen - (435) 797-8584
Last Week
W, 2-0 --- BOISE STATE
2022 Mountain West Championships, Albuquerque, N.M.
L, 0-0 (18-19 PK's) --- vs. #5 San Diego State
• Utah State soccer (8-6-7, 5-3-3 MW) concluded its season last week after reaching the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Tournament. In the team's regular season finale against Boise State, USU celebrated Senior Day with a 2-0 win. Senior Sammie Murdock opened the scoring only 23 seconds into the match, the quickest goal by a USU player since 2009. Senior Jordan Foraker also assisted on the play. The Aggies gained an insurance goal when sophomore Rine Yonaha took a shot off a pass from Murdock at the top of the 18-yard box, sending the ball in just below the crossbar. Junior Kelsey Kaufusi also assisted on the play. Senior Diera Walton recorded four saves in the contest as she recorded her 20th career shutout. Walton also moved into second all-time in goalkeeper minutes played, now at 5,680 for her career. With the victory, USU qualified for the Mountain West Tournament for the second straight season, the first consecutive tournament appearances by the program since the 2013 and 2014 seasons. In the quarterfinals versus San Diego State, USU's season ended in heartbreaking fashion, losing in a penalty shootout, 19-18, to San Diego State after the two sides drew 0-0 across 110 minutes of play. Each side missed a penalty kick in regulation as neither team was able to break the deadlock in the first 90 minutes nor in two 10-minute overtime periods. Senior Diera Walton recorded five saves to help push the game to penalty kicks. The Aggies recorded 20 total shots in regulation and overtime to the Aztecs' 21. SDSU also held a 5-2 edge in shots on goal. In penalty kicks, both teams started with nine consecutive makes and made 18 of their first 21 attempts. An apparent save was called back on both goalkeepers, as well, allowing the two teams to remain tied entering round 22, where the Aztecs converted to advance to the semifinals.
GOLF
Contact: Wade Denniston - (435) 797-1361
Last Week
10th/12 --- at Oral Roberts Invite
• Utah State's golf team concluded the fall portion of its schedule by finishing in 10th place at the Oral Roberts Invitational. USU posted a 36-hole team score of 47-over 615 (307-308) against the 12-team field. South Alabama and New Mexico State tied for first at 12-over 580, but the Jaguars were awarded the team title by tiebreak with the cumulative of the highest score. Only one Aggie finished inside the top 25 as sophomore Esteban Jaramillo tied for 24th at 7-over 149, including an even-par 71 in the final round. Fellow sophomore Nathan Preslar tied for 45th at 11-over 153 and junior Javier Vazquez tied for 58th at 14-over 156. Vazquez led the 71-player field with two eagles. He and Preslar tied for fourth in par-5 scoring with an average of 4.50. Sophomore Luis Gerardo Cantu finished 61st at 15-over 157, while junior John Cook tied for 69th at 22-over 164.
