USU Eastern Press Release
PRICE, UTAH – The No. 18 ranked Utah State Eastern volleyball team lost 3-1 to No. 8 Snow College Saturday in Ephraim.
The Eagles started the first set strong against the Badgers being down 5-4 until Snow went on an impressive 12-1 run.
Snow would close out the first set with a 25-9 victory to lead the match 1-0.
USU Eastern Head Coach Danielle Jensen said after the match that Snow capitalized on some mid set personnel adjustments she made.
“We had some injuries and we were trying to adjust but it didn’t work out for us,” Jensen said.
The second set was a much closer contest for USU Eastern, the Eagles came back from being down six points to tie the set at 23-23.
The Eagles nearly doubled their kills and attack percentage in the second set from the first set.
However, the Eagles came up short as Snow would take the second set 25-23 and lead 2-0 going into the ten-minute intermission.
After the break, the Eagles were clicking and came out with a nice 15-10 start in the third set.
The Eagles closed out the third set holding off the Badgers with a 25-23 win to stay alive in the match and avoid the sweep.
Jensen said the adjustments her team made in the second set eventually paid off in the third set.
“In the third set, everything started to click and we had the momentum while playing smart and putting the ball away,” Jensen said.
USU Eastern maintained the momentum throughout the fourth set until Snow came back from three down to tie the set at 23-23.
Snow would prevail in the fourth set 27-25 and win the match 3-1 over the Eagles.
After the game freshman Sarah Mafi said the effort and energy her team displayed after the second set is what kept the Eagles in the match.
“We started playing as a team and keeping the energy on our side. We played really hard and it was such a fun game to play, it felt like we got our groove back,” Mafi said.
Sophomore Sidney Springer led the Eagles in kills (14) and digs (15) against Snow.
Mafi scored 13 kills along with 12 digs on defense.
Even though it wasn’t the end result her team wanted, Jensen said there was something to learn from the way her team played.
“I think the most important thing from this game was that we played our best together and they wanted this game and they weren’t going to go down easy,” said Jensen.
The Eagles now have a 15-4 overall record with a 2-1 conference record.
Next weekend the Eagles will host two top 10 tens in SLCC and CSI.
Their match against SLCC will begin at 7 p.m. on Friday at the BDAC. The next day they will host CSI at 3 p.m.
Fans can follow the Eagles all season long on Facebook at Utah State Eastern Athletics and on Twitter at twitter.com/usueathletics.