Aggie volleyball wraps up conference play with sweep of San Jose

The Utah State University volleyball team ended conference play on a high note, sweeping San Jose in three sets today in a match the Aggies owned from start to finish.

Utah State as a team had a combined hitting percentage of .371 in the match, led by a career-high hitting percentage of .625 by outside hitter Kaylie Kamalu-Smith. In her last ever Mountain West competition, the senior recorded 17 kills with just two errors.

“I think you just kind of find the zone sometimes,” Kamalu-Smith said. “Especially with the season winding down, I just tried to leave it all out there. I don’t want to have any regrets.”

The Aggies dominated the first set, never trailing on the way to a 25-12 victory. The Aggie defense was out in full force during the set, using 23 digs to hold the Spartans to a hitting percentage of just .023.

San Jose State came to life in second set, starting out with a 10-9 lead, but the Spartans’ first lead of the day didn’t last for long as the Aggies followed it with a 9-2 run. The USU offense fed off of 17 kills in the set to earn a 25-20 victory.

Despite a 2-0 deficit, the Spartans weren’t going to go down without a fight. San Jose State remained resilient, but the late effort wasn’t enough, and the Aggies took the third set 26-24 to cap off their second sweep in conference play.

Senior setter Erica Moscoso also made the most of her final conference match, leading the team with 39 of its 44 assists along with seven digs.

“It all starts out with passing,” Moscoso said. “The hitters were hitting really well so it made me look good, which is always really nice.”

“We got them into some trouble, and they weren’t able to run the offense that they want,” USU head coach Grayson DuBose said. “I thought we did a nice job keeping them on their heels.”

Following the loss, San Jose State fell to 5-12 in conference play, 12-17 overall.

“I thought we played well, we were efficient offensively and that was huge,” DuBose said.
With the win, the Aggies wrapped up Mountain West play with a record of 8-10, and the team now sits at 13-16 overall with just one match remaining. USU will hold its senior night ceremony before taking on in-state rival Weber State on Tuesday night at the Wayne Estes Center.