LOGAN, Utah – Utah State volleyball dominated the final sets to record the first-ever Pac-12 victory for any team at Utah State with a 3-1 (25-27, 25-21, 25-17, 25-14) win over Gonzaga on Saturday afternoon at the Wayne Estes Center.
The Aggies had four players with 10 or more kills for the first time this year while posting a season-high .357 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter
Olivia Ruy led the way with 15 kills while junior outside hitter
Sami Blackett added 12 and junior middle blocker
Ava Napierski and sophomore outside hitter
Addy Cook each recorded 11 kills. Utah State also had a season-best 12 blocks, led by Napierski and senior middle blocker
Sophie Scott who each had six.
Set One
The visiting Bulldogs made the first move in the match, using a 5-1 run to take an early lead. Gonzaga led by as many as four points on multiple occasions before Utah State erased the deficit with a 5-1 run featuring a trio of blocks by Napierski, including two alongside sophomore setter
Silina Damuni. Following a Bulldog point, Cook again tied the match with a kill before Napierski gave USU the lead with an ace. The Bulldogs, however, answered with a 4-1 stretch the close out the set to claim a 27-25 win.
Set Two
Gonzaga kept momentum into the second set, slowly building a 7-4 lead to begin the frame. The Aggies responded with a 6-1 burst with Scott recording a pair of blocks and Ruy adding a kill and block during the stretch. In a set full of momentum swings, the Bulldogs scored six-straight to again jump in front by four before Utah State answered with a 7-1 run featuring three kills from Napierski to retake the lead. Once again, Gonzaga returned serve, scoring back-to-back points to tie the set at 20 apiece. Back-to-back kills from Cook and Damuni returned momentum to the Aggie side and after a single Bulldog kill, USU scored three-straight to secure the set, including a service ace from junior outside hitter
Justyna Novakova for the clinching point in a 25-21 victory.
Set Three
After Gonzaga again came out to build an early lead, Utah State swiftly regained form with an 8-1 run to take control of the third set. Cook added a pair of kills and Scott and Damuni combined on back-to-back blocks to put USU up by four and force a Bulldog timeout. Gonzaga scored four of the next five points to force the Aggies to call timeout, out of which USU scored 10 of 13 points. Blackett, Napierski and Ruy all notched multiple kills during the decisive run to put Utah State up 22-14. The offense continued to pour it on late as Napierski, Scott and Ruy added kills late to secure the 25-17 win.
Set Four
This time, the Aggies were first out of the gate as Ruy scored back-to-back kills and sophomore libero/defensive specialist
Lily LaFlesch posted an ace as part of an 8-2 run early in the third set. The run then turned into an onslaught as USU posted a pair of 4-0 bursts. Blackett, Cook and Napierski powered the offense in the first run while LaFlesch added another ace and Napierski and Blackett combined for a block to anchor the second 4-0 stretch to extend USU's lead to double digits. Blackett followed up a Napierski kill and an ace from the service line to extend Utah State's advantage to its largest extent at 11 points, allowing USU to coast the rest of the way for a 25-14 victory to win the match.
Quick Notes
- Utah State hit over .300 in each set, finishing with in-sequence hitting percentages of .387, .370, .323 and .351.
- In addition to tying for the team lead with six blocks apiece, Napierski and Scott both hit over .600 in the match, firsts for any Aggie this season. Scott posted a team-high .667 hitting percentage, finishing with nine kills on 12 attempts. Napierski's 11 kills were a career-high, doing so on a career-best .611 hitting percentage while recording zero attack errors on 18 attempts. Napierski also added an ace and three digs.
- Damuni tied her career-high with 48 assists and set new career-best marks with five kills on a .400 hitting percentage. Damuni also added four blocks and five digs.
- LaFlesch tied her season-high with two aces and finished with a team-high 12 digs, her ninth time leading the Aggies in digs this season, and added five assists..
- Blackett filled the stat sheet in addition to her 12 kills, adding seven digs, four assists, four blocks and an ace.
Up Next
The Aggies (2-10, 1-1 Pac-12) head into the thick of conference play with a pair of home match at the Wayne Estes Center. Utah State will host Fresno State on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 3 p.m., before facing off against preseason favorite Colorado State on Saturday, Oct. 3, at noon.
Tickets
Season tickets, single-game tickets and the USU women's sports pass are on sale now and can be purchased through
the USU online ticket office.
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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