Photo by Jeff Barrett
By Calvin Jensen
A 15-game win streak came to end for the 13th ranked USU Eastern women’s volleyball team over the weekend as they fell to No. 10 College of Southern Idaho (CSI) and No. 3 Salt Lake Community College.
It was a three-set sweep by the Golden Eagles of Southern Idaho on Friday evening. USU Eastern began the set looking sharp and with all the momentum shooting out to a 16-10 lead. The Golden Eagles slowly chipped away at the lead and ultimately came away with the first set victory, depleting the momentum, which Eastern was never able to regain. CSI defeated USU Eastern with set scores of 26-24, 25-15 and 25-19.
USU Eastern had little time to focus on the loss as they faced No. 3 Salt Lake Community College in a back-to-back battle on Saturday afternoon. The Lady Eagles looked refocused and determined as they took on one of the best teams in the nation.
In a back-and-forth battle, the Lady Eagles pushed the Bruins into extra points in the first set, but unforced errors gave Salt Lake the advantage with a score of 25-27. The second set was almost flawless for USU Eastern as the team came out with intense pressure and never let up, stunning Salt Lake with a 25-12 victory.
Knowing their opponents would respond, Salt Lake regained the momentum and won the third set 17-25. The Lady Eagles would need to push the game to a fifth set to survive. Eastern forced a point-for-point matchup, but again, untimely errors handed the Bruins the fourth set victory with a score of 23-25.
“Mental is a huge part of the game and they just couldn’t reset in the game against CSI,” stated head coach Danielle Jensen. “We were able to work through some of that when we faced Salt Lake and I was proud of how the team responded. Clean up the errors at critical moments and that game would have had a different ending. I’m confident with the work ethic this team has that they will be where we need to be for our next matchup.”
USU Eastern (19-7, 3-2) will head to Rangely, Colo. to take on Colorado Northwestern Community College (0-18, 0-5) on Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 6 p.m. Fans can watch the game live on the Scenic West Digital Network.