Photo by Jeff Barrett
By Calvin Jensen
In front of hundreds of fans and in the national spotlight, the 6th ranked USU Eastern women’s volleyball team upset No. 5 Snow College on Friday night inside the BDAC. The match ended in a five-set thriller as the Lady Eagles came from behind to keep their record-breaking win streak alive, picking up their 15th consecutive victory.
The energy was almost tangible inside the BDAC as the Lady Eagles came out with a dominating first set victory against the Badgers by a score of 25-17.
The two teams traded points during the majority of the second set but the Badgers caught the momentum and pulled ahead of Eastern late with a score of 16-24. The Lady Eagles refused to give up and were able to build momentum, putting a scare on the Badgers, but there was no room for Eastern errors and Snow won set two, 21-25.
The third set played out much like the second and once again the momentum change was too little, too late as the Badgers regained the match lead 2-1 with a 20-25 third set victory. The Lady Eagles responded abruptly following an intense huddle led by head coach Danielle Jensen. The Eagles found the energy they left in the first set and came away with a fourth set victory 25-19.
Tied at 2-2, a fifth set showdown ensued between the two nationally ranked opponents. USU Eastern brought the crowd to their feet as they played one of their best sets of the match. An ace by setter Katie Compas capped an impressive night of volleyball for the Lady Eagles as they picked up the fifth set victory, 15-9.
“There were several things that I saw during the game that we have been working on in practice this week,” said head coach Danielle Jensen. “That discipline and execution won the game for us tonight. There was amazing volleyball played and the support from our fans was something special.”
Outside hitter Haley McUne played her best game of the season against the Badgers with 20 kills at an impressive .415 hitting percentage. She also added 19 digs in the game. Outside hitter Kennedi Knudsen added 14 kills on the night. Katie Compas organized the offense with 23 assists and picked up 11 digs defensively. Middle blocker Casidy Fried put up a wall with five blocks and libero Paige Shumway lit up the crowd with 24 digs as she covered the court.
No. 6 USU Eastern (18-3, 2-0) will play again on Saturday, Oct. 1 as they take on the College of Southern Nevada (5-10, 1-1) at 1 p.m. inside the BDAC.