December 11, 2002 Athletics
Story
Utah State Volleyball
Looks to the Future
From the Utah Statesman
(12/6/02)
 After
advancing to the NCAA Tournament the past two years and then
failing to do so this season, the Utah State women's volleyball
team's season was a disappointment, but not a failure.
"Our season was not a failure because we didn't make the
tournament," said Head Coach Burt Fuller. "If that's
the case, then there are a lot of failures across the country.
We're disappointed where we finished, and we're going to try
to get that up next year."
With only six players returning from last season's No. 21-ranked
team, the Aggies had nine spots on their roster to fill. Utah
State filled these spots by bringing in four transfer students
and five freshmen.
"We lost five seniors the year before, and we replaced
those with freshmen," Fuller said. "There is always
going to be some learning to be done there. We were just a young
group."
The season opened on the road with nine matches spread over
three preseason tournaments.
At the Southwest Missouri State Tournament, Utah State dropped
its first two matches before picking up its first win of the
season, a 3-1 victory over Southeast Missouri State.
The next week, the Aggies improved to .500 with a 2-1 record
at the Longhorn Classic in Texas. Preseason play finished in
Rhode Island where the Aggies went 2-1, suffering a 3-2 loss
to Baylor University in the final game of the tournament.
Sitting at 5-4, Utah State opened Big West Conference play
at home against the University of California Irvine and No.
6 Long Beach State University. The Aggies fell 3-1 and 3-0 in
the two matches.
USU's first conference victory came with a 3-1 victory at the
University of Idaho.
After loses at then No. 7 University of California Santa Barbara
and California Polytechnic State University, USU returned home
to face in-state rival BYU in what was to be one of the biggest
matches of the season.
"BYU is always a match you want to win, because they're
in-state and typically they have a very good program,"
said USU outside hitter Rickie Rigby.
Last year the Aggies defeated BYU twice, once in Provo and
a second time in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The
match stayed close before the Aggies gained the momentum in
the fifth game and held on for the 3-2 victory.
"I think anytime you can beat BYU in the season, that's
a big match for you," Fuller said. "It was a close
match. It was kind of a seesaw match, back-and-forth, and we
were able to finish strong and get that match done."
Riding the momentum, the Aggies picked up back-to-back home
wins over the University of California Riverside and California
State University Fullerton.
"The BYU match was a turning point," said USU middle
blocker Ingrid Roth. "It sent us on a little streak."
The winning didn't continue, though, as USU dropped a pair
on the road to the University of the Pacific and California
State University Northridge to finish 3-6 in the first half
of conference play.
It was a loss, but Rigby said the Northridge match was one
of the most important for the Aggies.
"We didn't play very well, and then, after, we sat down
in the locker room and said, 'how do we fix this?'" she
said. "I think you learn more from losing than you ever
do from winning."
The second half opened with Utah State picking up another victory
over Idaho, but then suffering three straight losses to the
No. 22 University of Utah, Cal Poly and No. 5 Santa Barbara.
Although the BYU match was an important turning point for the
Aggies, Roth said losing to Santa Barbara brought a personality
change to the team.
"It increased team unity and togetherness," she said.
USU then went on a four-game winning streak, taking road matches
from Fullerton, Riverside, Weber State University, and getting
a home win against Northridge.
"I was real happy with our Weber victory," Fuller
said. "Weber had been playing very well at home and getting
a five-game win down there was a nice shot in the arm for us."
The win streak only lasted four matches, though, as USU closed
out the season with losses to Pacific, Long Beach and Irvine.
For the season, Utah State finished 14-16 overall and 7-11
in the Big West Conference.
"I thought we finished the second half better than the
first half, and that's always a positive step in the right direction,"
Fuller said. "We have a good core of players to return
next year, and we're optimistic about that."
Although there is disappointment at not making the tournament,
Fuller said the team will be able to build on this season for
the future.
"We gave pretty much the best we had to try to achieve
that tournament status, but with the age and experience level,
we weren't quite able to do that," he said. "I think
it was a real learning experience for all of us, coaches and
players. We learned what type of effort is going to be needed
in order to improve."
Rigby said, "I think it sets a good foundation. Not that
this season was bad, but it's something they want to work toward
improving because they don't want to struggle. Definitely with
the losses that we had, those young players learned what NCAA
volleyball was about."
Roth said the team made huge improvements by the end of the
season and will use what it learned to improve in the future.
"It was a nice wake-up call [to not make the tournament],"
she said. "We can truly understand what it takes and that
we need to work hard to get in."
On the individual level, Fuller said there were some players
who had great performances.
"Two of our freshmen, Ingrid [Roth] and Zuzana [Cernianska],
played very well for us during the year," he said. "Ingrid
finishing with the numbers she did, those were real nice surprises
for us."
Cernianska was honored as the Big West Co-Freshman of the Year.
Aggie players also earned additional honors. Middle blocker
Erin Cartwright was a Big West first-team all-conference selection
and was named to the Big West Conference all-academic team.
Seniors Emily Kennedy, Hailey Seedall and Shauni Fluckiger were
also all-academic selections.
"That's something we strive for -- keeping our academics
high," Fuller said. "That's a very nice testament
not only to the individuals who receive the awards, but the
academic people who keep them on track."
Although the foundation for next season is in place, the Aggies
will be losing four seniors in Rigby, Kennedy, Seedall and Fluckiger.
"Our seniors were very supportive," Roth said. "They
provided great leadership and I thank them for that."
With all the ups and downs of the season, Roth said although
she is disappointed, the team worked hard, and is optimistic
about the future rather than feeling failure.
"We played as hard as we could all the time, so you can't
think of that as failure," she said.
By Landon Olson; slbk5@cc.usu.edu
Photo by Ryan Talbot
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