LOGAN, Utah – Utah State volleyball (11-5, 4-1 Mountain West) earned a 3-0 sweep over Nevada (4-12, 0-5 MW) inside the Wayne Estes Center on Thursday night.
 
Junior opposite side hitter Adna Mehmedovic led the Aggies with 13 kills, hitting .409 for the night. Sophomore setter Leah Wilton-LaBoy had a team-high 20 assists, while junior setter Beatriz Rodrigues added 14.
 
Defensively, three Aggies logged double-digit digs as freshman libero Kambree Rodriguez had a match-high 18, senior outside hitter Tatum Stall had 14 and graduate senior outside Shelby Capllonch had 11. Senior middle blocker Kelsey Watson led USU with five blocks, followed closely by Mehmedovic with four.
 
"It felt like we had started out a little bit slowly the last couple matches," head coach Rob Neilson said. "We really wanted to come out and make a statement. We played really well from start to finish."
 
Utah State came out hot in set one as a 4-0 run, featuring a kills from Watson and Capllonch, along with a block by Watson and sophomore opposite Kaylie Ray, gave USU a 9-3 lead. A 6-1 spurt, capped by a Wilton-LaBoy service ace, would extend the advantage to 15-6. Nevada scored twice more before the Aggies scored six unanswered points for a 21-8 edge. A Stall kill later put Utah State at set point and a Wolf Pack service error gave USU the 25-11 win.
 
"A lot of us had a lot of fire in our hearts. We had some spice in our bones," Rodriguez said. We came out with a lot of gumption as Rob would say. We just came out and wanted to win and pushed ourselves. We also had a really big focus on serving tougher and playing our game rather than waiting for them to make mistakes. We forced them to make those mistakes and we played really, really well."
 
The score stayed tighter in set two as a 3-0 Aggie run gave USU the 7-6 edge. The teams continued to go back and forth until a 4-0 Utah State run, capped by a Watson block, gave USU a 16-11 lead. Nevada trimmed the margin to one three times, but back-to-back Stall and Mehmedovic kills, along with a Wolf Pack error, to close the set gave Utah State the 25-21 victory.
 
After Nevada took a 6-5 lead in the third set, four Capllonch kills and a Wolf Pack error put the Aggies on top 10-6. The teams exchanged runs until a 6-1 Aggie spurt, capped by a Mehmedovic and Watson block, gave Utah State the 19-13 advantage. The teams traded points until a kill from graduate senior middle blocker Kennedi Boyd gave the Aggies match point 24-18. Nevada scored twice more, but a Mehmedovic hammer secured the sweep with a 25-20 win.
 
Overall, USU hit .165 (42-24-109), while Nevada hit .122 (25-13-98).
 
Utah State welcomes Fresno State (8-8, 2-3 MW) for homecoming on Saturday, Oct. 7, at noon.
 
Season tickets for the 2023 Utah State volleyball season are on sale now.
 
Fans can follow the Aggie volleyball program on Twitter, @USUVolleyball, on Facebook at /USUVolleyball or on Instagram, @usuvolleyball. Aggie fans can also follow the Utah State athletic program on Twitter, @USUAthletics, Facebook at /USUAthletics and on Instagram, @USUAthletics.
 
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