Aggie volleyball loses to seventh-ranked Colorado State 3-1

LOGAN – The Colorado State women’s volleyball team came to the Wayne Estes Center Thursday night to take on the Aggies and left town with a 3-1 win. Utah State fought hard, and for the most part kept the match close, but the nation’s seventh-ranked women’s volleyball team proved to be too much.

“I think it was a match we came out and fought and just came up short a little bit,” Aggie senior Kaitlyn VanHoff said. “It’s just a few points here and there, you know.  If we just tighten it up and are a little more consistent then we got that.”

The Aggies lost the first two sets, but kept each of them close until the end. The first set was lost 25-22 and the second was lost 25-20 with 14 tie scores and seven lead changes.

“You could kind of see their composure at the end those first two games,” USU head coach Grayson DuBose said. “I thought that was the difference. They were a little more composed than we were.”

Utah State came out fast during the third set and never trailed. They reached set point with a score of 24-17, but Colorado State scored the next six points and brought the score within one. A kill by senior outside hitter Rachel Orr finished the set for the Aggies. It was the seventh set the Rams had lost all year and the first they had lost to an unranked team.

“We got really fired up,” Aggie sophomore Kaylie Kamalu said. “The fact that we can play there with this top team in the nation, I think that we wanted to get one against them for sure. Once we got rolling in the third set, when we’re playing well like that, I think we’re kind of hard to stop.”

Colorado State would run away with the fourth set, never trailing and winning it 25-18.

“We played good volleyball and I think the only difference between us and them in the first three sets was just little errors,” Kamalu said. “When both teams are playing well like that it comes down to what team is going to decrease their errors and Colorado State did that.”

Kamalu had a career high 18 kills during the match. It was the third time in six games she has reached a career high in kills.

“She’s playing great,” DuBose said. “She’s a really nice athlete and a wonderful volleyball player so I’m excited for her to continue to improve. The future is really bright for that kid.”

The Aggies are now 4-7 for the season and 0-1 in conference. They won’t get much rest before their next match. The University of Wyoming comes to Logan with an 11-3 record Saturday.

“Wyoming is traditionally a really strong blocking team,” DuBose said. “They have really nice athletic middles. So that’s going to be kind of our focus for the next little while.”

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