Utah State Volleyball Wins at Utah for First Time Since 1990

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Junior outside hitter Liz McArthur tied her career-high with 25 kills to lead Utah State to its first win at Utah since the 1990 season as the Aggies posted a four-set win (28-30, 25-10, 25-23, 25-19) here at Crimson Court Saturday night to claim the Utah Classic. McArthur, who averaged 6.29 kills and hit .507 during the tournament, was named the Most Valuable Player of the Utah Classic, while senior libero Christine Morrill and sophomore outside hitter Josselyn White were both named to the all-tournament team. Morrill averaged 5.14 digs in the two matches and White averaged 2.86 kills, 1.29 digs and 0.71 blocks Utah State, who defeated UC Davis in three sets earlier in the day, improved to 2-0 on the season which is its best start since the 2005 team began the year with four straight wins. Utah fell to 1-1 with the loss. Overall, USU had lost 13 straight road matches to the Utes before Saturday’s win. McArthur (St. George, Utah) added a career-high 15 digs for her first double-double of the season and hit an amazing .512 (25-3-43) in the match as she had just three hitting errors. White (Smithfield, Utah) also had a career-high in kills as she finished the match with 13 winners to go along with seven digs and four block assists. Senior middle blocker Shantell Durrant (American Fork, Utah) added eight kills and six block assists, while Morrill (Neola, Utah) had a match-high 25 digs. Senior setter Chelsea Fowles (Hollister, Calif.) also played well for Utah State as she had 56 assists to go along with 10 digs, six kills and three block assists. Morgan Odale had 18 kills to lead Utah and Sarah Collette finished the match with 11 kills. Utah State trailed for the majority of the first set before rallying from five points down to tie it at 23-all. The match was later tied at 28-all before Utah scored two straight points for the win. The Aggies quickly regrouped and never trailed in the second set after scoring the first two points. In the third set, USU went on a 10-4 run to turn a 14-10 deficit into a 20-18 lead as it took a 2-1 advantage. In the fourth and final set, USU broke a 16-all tie by scoring five straight points and never looked back in posting the victory. Utah State hit .262 (17-6-42) in the first set, 289 (15-4-38) in the second, .205 in the third (16-7-44) and .357 (20-5-42) in the fourth set. Utah notched a .333 (22-5-51) hitting percentage in set one, a .176 (12-6-34) percentage in set two, a .216 (13-5-37) percentage in the third set and a .147 (9-4-34) percentage in set four. Utah State finished the match with a .277 (68-22-166) hitting percentage as compared to a .231 (56-20-156) hitting percentage for Utah. USU also had eight more digs (73-65) and one more service aces (4-3) in the match, while the Utes had one more service errors (10-9). Next up for Utah State will be its home opener against Weber State inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Tuesday, Aug. 31 at 7 p.m. -USU-

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