Utah State University’s volleyball team hopes to finish strong

 By Ashley Springer

 

Utah State University’s volleyball team is looking to focus on the details and finish out games as it takes on the United States Air Force Academy on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at the Wayne Estes Center.

“They’re all important matches for us and for our growth and for the process of us getting better,” said USU coach Grayson DuBose. “We want to be able to go out and play composed and play consistently.”

“Right now we need to focus on a lot of our little things,” said redshirt sophomore middle blocker Carly Lenzen. “Because the whole big picture’s there, it’s just these minute things that end up costing us games.” Lenzen had nine kills in the 3-0 loss to New Mexico on Wednesday attacking at a team high of 50 percent.

One of the little things the team is focusing on is blocking.

“I want to see better blocking,” DuBose said. “We’ve always kind of been a really nice blocking team, and then this year we’ve really struggled. So I want us to finish the last couple matches by just going out and defending well.”

Lenzen said for better blocking the blockers need to have good footwork and eye work to make sure they see where the setter is setting the ball so they can be in a good position to block.

According to DuBose, one element the team is missing is the ability to finish under pressure.

“That kind of is a learned skill as much as any of the other skills: pass, set, hit. Learning how to be good under pressure is kind of a learned skill and experience makes a difference,” DuBose said. “I think we’re figuring it out, but we’re just not quite there yet.”

“Maintaining good energy… especially if we’re down we need to make our own momentum to push us through and carry on,” Lenzen said. “We put in all this time and energy and so I think it’s just time to believe in ourselves and know that we can beat these teams.”

Saturday will be the Aggies' final home game of the season.

“It’s almost the end of season, so I think just going out with a bang and having fun and leaving nothing behind on the court,” Lenzen said.

Air Force is coming off of a 3-1 loss to Boise State on Wednesday. Air Force has lost its last five matches and hasn’t won a match since its 3-1 win over San Jose State on Oct. 31.

Against New Mexico, sophomore outside hitter Rachel Gale led the Aggies with 13 kills, junior setter Erica Moscoso had 29 of the team’s total of 33 assists and junior libero Hannah Gleason led with 18 digs.