LOGAN, Utah – Utah State takes on Fresno State on Saturday, Oct. 26, at 1 p.m. (MT) at the Wayne Estes Center in Logan.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
All Mountain West matches will be streamed via the Mountain West Network. Links for live stats will be available through UtahStateAggies.com.
 
AGGIES VS. EVERYONE
The all-time series between the Aggies and Bulldogs is tied at 21-21, but USU holds a 13-5 home record against the Bulldogs. All but one match in the series has come with the two teams in the same conference. The two sides briefly faced off in 1990-91 as members of the Big West before the series took off when Utah State joined the WAC in 2005, playing at least one match each year outside of a one-year hiatus in 2012 prior to USU's arrival to the Mountain West. Plenty of postseason history adjoins the series as Utah State and Fresno State have faced off in the conference tournament on three occasions. The Bulldogs took out the Aggies in the first round of last season's MW Tournament, snapping a six-game winning streak for USU in the series. Fresno State also emerged victories in the first round of the 2011 WAC Tournament, although Utah State did claim the first postseason victory of the series with a 3-1 win in the opening round of the 2005 WAC Tournament. Head coach Rob Neilson is 6-2 in his career against Fresno State.
 
SHATTERED RECORDS
Utah State set a new program record for hitting percentage in a five-set match. The Aggies hit .371 in a 3-2 win at Boise State, breaking the previous record of .361 against Alaska-Fairbanks in 1997 and ranking third in the nation this season for hitting percentage in a five-set match. USU was led by freshman Andrea Simovski, who finished with a 28 kills on a .510 hitting percentage, both career-highs. Simovski's 28 kills are tied for the third-most by a freshman in the nation this season and are tied for the third-most by anyone in the MW this season. Freshman Mara Stiglic also finished with career-highs of 20 kills on a .333 hitting percentage. This is the first time that multiple Aggies have finished with 20 or more kills in the same match since joining the MW in 2014.
 
ICYMI
The Aggies split a pair of five-set matches on the road at Nevada and Boise State. Against the Wolf Pack, both teams hit over .250 for the match, only the second time both teams have done so in an Aggie match this season (at San Diego State being the other). USU rallied back after dropping the first two sets but fell short in the final set, 15-13. Bouncing back against the Broncos, the Aggies took the opening set, 25-14, their most dominant set victory this season. Utah State also took the third set sandwiched between a pair of Bronco wins in sets two and four. In the final frame, Aggie runs of 3-0 and 5-2 led USU to take the 15-11 win.
 
LATE HEROICS
Simovski came through in the clutch in the final set against the Broncos. The freshman from Belgrade, Serbia, recorded six of USU's 15 points in the fifth set, going 6-0-7 for an .857 hitting percentage to help the Aggies close the door for the five-set road victory.
 
DOUBLE DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Freshmen Kaylie Kofe recorded a double-double in each of Utah State's five-set contests last week, finishing with a career-high-tying 52 assists alongside 10 digs against the Wolf Pack before recording 48 assists and a career-high 13 digs against the Broncos. Kofe has now recorded a team-best six double-doubles on the year. Simovski follows close behind with five double-doubles this season, recording one against the Broncos with 28 kills and 13 digs. The Aggies have recorded multiple double-doubles in the same game five times this season. Kofe and Simovski have done so four times, including when USU recorded three double-doubles in the season opener against Green Bay as freshman Olivia Tukuafu recorded her first double-double alongside Kofe and Simovski. Kofe and Štiglić also posted double-doubles together versus Weber State. All told, the Aggies have recorded 13 double-doubles this season.
 
HITTING THEIR STRIDE
After a difficult nonconference schedule featuring six opponents ranked in the top-50 of the KPI rankings, the Aggies have hit their stride in conference play, winning five of their past six matches. During MW play, Utah State ranks second in the assists per set (12.66), second in kills per set (13.74) and third in hitting percentage (.255). Individually, junior Tierney Barlow ranks third in the conference in hitting percentage (.411) and Kofe ranks third in assists per set (9.23).
 
THE HARDEST ROAD
Utah State challenged itself in nonconference play, facing off against three AVCA-ranked teams and six teams which rank in the top-50 of the KPI. Eight games into conference play, USU's schedule still ranks as the 44th-toughest in the nation by opponent winning percentage, the second-toughest schedule in the Mountain West behind only Colorado State.
 
GOING THE DISTANCE
The Aggies played seven consecutive matches which went a full five sets, beginning with the team's win over Ohio and ending with USU's comeback win at San Diego State. According to available sources and research, this is the longest known streak of five-set matches in women's volleyball history at the Division-I level. USU has now played in 10 five-set matches this season, going 5-5 in those contests.
 
AGAINST TOP COMPETITION
When Utah State welcomed No. 8 Purdue to the Wayne Estes Center, the first top-10 opponent to come to Logan since 2014, freshman Loryn Helgesen led the Aggie attack with 12 kills on only 19 attempts. Helgesen's hitting percentage of .526 in the match was the highest by an Aggie this season with at least 10 kills until Barlow finished with 15 kills on a .583 hitting percentage against Nevada.
 
DO YOU REQUIRE ASSISTANCE?
Against New Mexico, Kofe finished with a career-high 52 assists, the most assists by an Aggie in a single match since Kassidy Johnson recorded 56 assists against Air Force in 2017. Kofe's 52 assists are also the most in the Mountain West this season for a match going fewer than five sets. Kofe tied her own career-high mark with 52 assists in USU's five-set loss at Nevada. Kofe leads the Aggies this season with 513 total assists and a 6.93 assist-per-set average, an average which has risen to 9.23 during conference play.
 
CAN I DIG IT?
Redshirt sophomore Kendel Thompson accrued a career-high 23 digs in Utah State's match versus Wyoming. Thompson's 23 digs were the most by a Utah State player in a single match since former Aggie Jordi Holdaway recorded 25 digs against Air Force in 2022. During MW play, Thompson ranks tied for seventh in the conference with 3.40 digs per set.  With 17 digs in USU's 3-0 sweep at UNLV, Simovski ranks second in the MW this season for digs in a single three-set match.
 
WELL TRAVELED
Utah State boasts four international players on its roster, all freshmen, in Andrea Simovski (Belgrade, Serbia), Jagoda Bialek (Opole, Poland), Kate Lijić (Split, Croatia) and Mara Štiglić (Rijeka, Croatia).
 
TAKING TURNS
Five different Aggie hitters have led the team in kills in this season. Senior Adna Mehmedovic has led the Aggies in kills a team-high eight times, while Helgesen and Simovski have each led the team in kills four times this season. Barlow tied for the team lead in kills alongside Simovski in the team's match against Air Force, which was Barlow's first time leading the team in kills. Štiglić led the team in kills for the first time this season against New Mexico. Lawson and junior Kaylie Ray have each led USU in kills once this season, accomplishing the feat against Utah and Weber State, respectively.
 
ACES WILD
Freshman Andrea Simovski recorded five service aces in USU's 3-2 win over Ohio. The five aces are tied for the most by a Utah State player since former Aggie Beatriz Rodrigues recorded six aces against Fresno State on Nov. 3, 2022. As a team, the Aggies recorded 12 service aces against Weber State, their second match with 10 or more aces this season. The 12 aces were the most by USU in a match since recording 13 at New Mexico last season. Utah State is currently tied for fourth in the conference with 1.6 service aces per set during MW play.
 
YOUTH MOVEMENT
Utah State boasts the third-youngest roster by age in the nation. The Aggies' average age of 19.6 is only bested by Stephen F. Austin (18.5) and Army (19.0). USU has a total of 11 true freshmen on the team in 2024, plus one redshirt freshman (Rachel Reed). In total, the Aggies bring in 13 newcomers to the 2024 roster and return only four letterwinners in Kelsey Watson, Mehmedovic, Kaylie Ray and Kendel Thompson. 
 
TAKING STOCK OF THE CONFERENCE
The Aggies were picked to finish second in the Mountain West this season as voted in the MW preseason coaches poll. Utah State received a total of 84 points and two first-place votes in the poll, finishing behind Colorado State's 98 points and eight first-place votes. Boise State, Fresno State and UNLV rounded out the top-five of the poll, with UNLV also receiving the final first-place vote.
 
WELCOME TO CLUB ESTES
Utah State has won 33 of its last 41 matches at home and is 37-9 in the last 46 matches played in Logan. The Aggies played in front of three sold-out crowds of 1,488 fans last season, first doing so against Utah on Aug. 30, 2023, to register the program's first sellout since 2015. USU then reached capacity against then-No. 12 BYU (Sept. 16) and San José State (Nov.9). Last year was the first season in which USU sold out the Estes on multiple occasions.
 
In the team's Spectrum Magic Night against Utah Valley, held in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum, the Aggies set a program record with 2,559 fans in attendance.
 
A YEAR TO REMEMBER
In 2023, Utah State won its third-straight Mountain West title as the Aggies became the outright MW regular season champions after finishing league play 17-1, the most conference wins in program history. USU earned its first-ever at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, marking its second-straight and sixth-ever appearance at the Tournament.
 
AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN
Utah State won the outright Mountain West regular season title in 2023, making it three-straight MW championships under head coach Rob Neilson. The Aggies also shared the MW regular season title in 2021 before winning the MW tournament in 2022. USU has won eight regular season conference titles in program history, including the WAC in 2012 and five consecutive titles in the Intermountain Athletic Conference from 1977 through 1981.
 
FROM MANAGER TO UNIFORM
Utah State freshman defensive specialist Kendel Thompson was part of the 2022 Utah State volleyball team as a manager before officially joining the roster before the 2023 season.
 
BRING ON THE ACCOLADES
Utah State was represented by a pair of athletes on the all-MW preseason team. Mehmedovic and incoming juinor transfer Tierney Barlow each earned the honor after both were named to the all-MW team in 2023.  Mehmedovic was named to the all-MW team in 2023 after totaling 295 kills, averaging 2.68 per set, while adding 103 blocks, 69 digs and 10 assists. She was named the MW Offensive Player of the Week for the week ending Oct. 30 after posting back-to-back totals of 14 kills in wins over Colorado State and Wyoming, hitting .444 (28-4-54) during the two matches. Barlow was named all-Mountain West in 2023 while playing at Wyoming, recording 324 kills, averaging 2.97 per set, and added 124 total blocks, averaging 1.14 per set. She also had 77 digs, 31 service aces and six assists during the season. Barlow was also named the MW Freshman of the Year in 2022, also earning honorable mention all-MW the same season. Head coach Rob Neilson was also named the MW Coach of the Year in 2023, his second time receiving the honor after also earning the award in 2021.
 
KILLER QUEEN KELSEY
Graduate senior middle blocker Kelsey Watson is the only Aggie to ever hit 100 percent while logging at least 10 kills, doing so in last year's regular season finale at Nevada (Nov. 18, 2023). She now holds the school hitting percentage record for between 10-14 attempts as she was a perfect 10-for-10 against the Wolf Pack. 
 
UP NEXT
Utah State again takes part in the Mountain West Tuesday Night Block Party on Tuesday, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. this time hosting Nevada in the team's first repeat matchup of the conference season. The Aggies will then host Boise State on Halloween night at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here.
 
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.