Photo by USU Eastern’s Tyson Chappell
USUE Press Release
Utah State Eastern volleyball lost to the seventh-ranked Snow College Badgers 3-0 on Saturday in Ephraim. Both teams came into the game tied for third place in the conference standings and looking to create separation with a win.
In the first set, the Eagles lost 25-20 to the Badgers in the most competitive set of the game. Snow only had two errors in the first set compared to the Eagles seven.
After the first set is when things went south for the Eagles as they lost the second set 25-13 and the third set 25-12.
“We had a difficult time generating our offense and putting the ball away,” said USU Eastern head coach Danielle Jensen.
The Badgers had an impressive .538 hitting percentage with 14 kills and zero errors in the second set. On the other side, USU Eastern put up .188 hitting percentage and five errors.
USU Eastern sophomore had another great game for the Eagles, finishing with a team-high nine kills and eight digs.
“She stepped up and came to play today. She did a great job all the way around,” said Jensen.
Nine errors in the third set gave Snow the edge to complete the sweep of the Eagles.
Freshman setter Siara Roberts finished the game with a team-high nine digs and 23 assists.
With the first round of conference games over, the Eagles will now refocus and work on upsetting some of the highly-ranked teams in the back half of the schedule before the conference tournament.
“We have to be able to play against these bigger schools without shutting down. We know they are going to be tough and we have to respond differently then we have,” said Jensen.
After Saturday’s lost to the Badgers, the Eagles now have an 11-10 overall record and a 2-3 conference record.
They will have a tough week coming up against two of the top five teams in the country. They will head to Twin Falls to take on the College of Southern Idaho on Friday and then head to Salt Lake City to take on the Salt Lake Community College Bruins on Saturday afternoon.
Fans can watch both road games on the Scenic West Athletic Conference Network via each team’s official athletics website.