Photo by Darryl Wells
By Calvin Jensen, Sports Information Director, Utah State Eastern
The extreme Las Vegas heat didn’t slow down the No. 9 USU Eastern women’s volleyball team as they picked up two more nationally ranked victories to open up the Coyote Classic in Nevada.
10th ranked Polk State College out of Florida was up first for the Lady Eagles. USU Eastern picked up the first two sets of the game with scores of 25-22 and 25-20. Polk refused to give up and stole the momentum early on in the third and the Lady Eagles never could regroup, dropping the third set 25-15. After an intense coach-to-player talk, the Lady Eagles entered the fourth set firing on all cylinders and never looked back as they ended the game with a 25-18 fourth set victory.
Freshman outside hitter Haley McUne had 14 kills to go with 16 digs, leading the Eagles on the offensive attack. Freshman middle blocker Casidy Fried had five blocks to go with her nine kills on the net. Freshman setter Katie Compas had 20 assists and freshman libero Paige Shumway covered the court with 20 digs.
In the last competition of the day, USU Eastern faced 13th ranked Chandler-Gilbert. Under extremely hot conditions, the momentum from the all-important victory against Polk would not be cooled and the Lady Eagles swept the Coyotes in three sets 25-23, 25-22 and 25-21.
McUne would match her 14 kills in the first game of the day and led the Lady Eagles offensively. Stepping up in a big way were sophomore right side hitters, Emma Christensen and Sophia Anderson. Anderson hit a .533% on 10 kills while Christensen added nine kills at a .500%. Compas continues to organize an impressive offense with 25 assists and Shumway once again led on defense with 20 digs.