USU Eastern Press Release
PRICE – Utah State Eastern volleyball defeated the sixth-ranked Snow College 3-2 on Friday night at home.
In front of an electric crowd on the team’s annual “Dig Pink” night, the Eagles came back from being down 2-0 in sets to pull of their second major upset of the season.
After losing the first and second set 25-21 and 25-19, respectively, the Eagles dug deep and turned things around.
“When they decide they want to put it all together and once things clicked, they clicked and they stuck with it,” said USU Eastern head coach Danielle Jensen.
The Eagles staved off the Badgers in the third and fourth set with 25-18 set wins to force a final set where winner takes all. In the fifth set, the Eagles fell behind 11-7 before making big plays and taking advantage of the Snow errors.
“We came out and kept putting it away on offense and played unstoppable defense, which helped us pull through,” said USU Eastern sophomore Sarah Mafi.
Speaking of defense, sophomore libero Alexus Desmarais led the Eagles with 25 digs. Mafi finished the game with 17 digs and freshman Siara Roberts added 16 digs.
“Our defense would not let anything get past them and Lexi was everywhere. From the way we finally set up our block and being able to play that defense, she was on fire tonight,” said Jensen.
Both teams went back and forth in the fifth set until getting the win 17-15 with the crowd rushing the floor after the teams shook hands.
After the game, Mafi said that she wishes she could thank the fans and crowd for all the help bringing the energy to the game.
“Sometimes it’s hard to create energy when the gym is silent, so having it that loud helps so much,” said Mafi.
Mafi finished the night on offense with 14 kills while sophomore Mackenzie Carter had a dominating 22 kills.
Jensen got a lot of productivity on Friday night from her bench as well. Freshman Tiffany Schwendiman finished the game with 13 digs while sophomore Hailee Frey put in five digs with two kills and two blocks.
The big comeback by the Eagles proved how hard the Eagles have worked to get the program where it is, according to Jensen.
“They have fought and they come in everyday to get better. They come in on their own time too. They are a special group and the refused to roll over,” said Jensen.
