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Show 6 Friday, Sept. 23,2005 Take Note:!: The volleyball team faces Louisiana Tech.] Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Spectrum.* 797-1761 i sports@statesman.usu.edL4 Aggies pick up first WAC win Soccer team falls to Utah 5-0 BY BEN WALKER Staff Writer The Utah State Aggie volleyball team opened Western Athletic Conference play with a 3-game win (30-24, 30-27, 30-21) over the New Mexico State Aggies Thursday night at the Spectrum. Senior Erin Graybill lead a balanced attack for USU hitting for .545 and 14 kills. "She's been putting up really good numbers lately," coach Burt Fuller said. "We felt as though there were some Game Over IFInarResults _ UTAH STATE 3 NEW MEXICO STATE 0 things with that team that we could exploit with her and it worked to our favor." Senior Zuzana Cernianska also recorded double-digit kills with 11. Although USU finished the match in three games, the match was by no means a blowout. "That match was close throughout," Fuller said. "We're very fortunate and very happy to win that one." USU led by no more than six throughout the entire match until a 6-1 run finished it off. New Mexico State entered • BY KEVIN NIELSEN Senior Writer The Utah State soccer team found out redemption can be tough when the Utah Utes won 3-0 Thursday night at Bell Field. The Utes had just lost their first two games of the season this past weekend and had dropped out of the Top 25. Needless to say, the Utes were focused coming out of the gate as their coach pushed the team VOLLEYBALL See page 9 Game Over UTAH STATE 0 UTAH 3 to attack. As a result, the Utes scored twice in the first 20 minutes to take an early commanding lead. The first goal came from a nice cross into the middle, which found the back of the net. The second came off a misplay by Aggie goalie Kelli AUred. Allred charged the L defender but fell and Adele Letro found the back of the net to put the Utes up 2-0. "The early goals killed j, us," Utah State Head Coach ]j Heather Cairns said. "I don't ^ think the second goal would have happened if the first one ^, hadn't. We lost our momentum. See page 8 USU football team ready for UNLV Brent Guy • Utah State Head Coach • Istyear BY KEVIN NIELSEN S e n i o r W r i t e r ''•', •;• ~ ~-!' •-* • V Two weeks and one game late, the Utah State Aggies will open their home season at Romney Stadium this Saturday against the UNLV Rebels. The Ags will be looking for their 100th win at Romney Stadium all-time and will be looking to even up their win-loss record at 1-1. While Saturday will be Leon Jackson • Sophomore • Starting quarterback #7 just the second game for the Aggies, the Rebels will play their fourth game this season. UNLV is 1-2 with a win over Idaho and their two losses to New Mexico and Nevada. With two more games to look at, Utah State Head Coach Brent Guy has a better idea of what UNLV is doing — whereas the Rebels' Head Coach Mike Sanford is a little more in the dark. "It is a little bit weird, in that we have played three I. >Loss Mike Sanford • University Nevada-Las Vegas Head Coach . • Istyear games and they have played 390 yards on them. They are one/' Sanford said. "You playing more zone and are have to look at the improvemixing it up more." ment of [Nevada] from game Guy especially noticed one to game two. There is the clock management going to be a similar thing Nevada used to start off the happening with Utah State." game as they marched down the field using a lot of the As for the Aggies' scouting, Guy said the Rebels did clock in the first quarter. The Ags had a similar drive a better job against Nevada at the end of the first quarter not allowing big plays against Utah, which resulted thanks to a change in their philosophy. "They aren't giving up big plays, which had happened," • UNLV Guy said. "Idaho threw for See page 8 Shane Steichen • Junior • Starting quarterback #15 Getting it down i "Its always the holder's fault when a kick is missed." Jakubiak added. The problems of the kicking game Field goals and extra points should are reflected in most recreational footbe a walk in the park, ^m^^^^^^^ ball games where but rarely do they turn extra points are out that way. either omitted and Last year Oregon the whole seven State's kicker Alexis points are given or Serna missed three •Step~-by-step sports two-point extra points in one convergame and the Beavers sions are lost 22-21 in overtime. the only Florida State kickers tend to miss wide option. right, but some things just can't be In order to bypass the explained. problem, here is how to "You should never miss a kick when consistently execute an the hold is perfect," Utah State place extra point or field goal. kicker Jarod Jakubiak said. Everything begins with the snapper. Jeff King, the Aggies' snapper for kicking plays, said the snapper doesn't have to worry about blocking — his only job is '$ to get the ball to the holder. With Brian Soi and E.J. Reid on either side,1 he doesn't need to worry about getting bowled over from the rush, he said. To snap correctly, first hold the laces in your dominant hand as if you were going to throw the ball normally. Put the lace side of the ball facing the ground and bring your other hand on the smooth underside of the ball. Put your middle finger on the seam, in the middle of the ball, so your hand acts as Photos ond illustrations by Ryan Talbot BY KEVIN NIELSEN Senior Writer Here's How > • Checkout the Aggie sports calendar to find out what's going on and where at on Saturday. a guide for the snap. The Aggies don't use a certain count, King said, but once the holder is ready, he puts up his hand signaling for the snapper to go whenever he's ready. When snapping, make sure to keep your head down, he said. The ball should make it to the holder, who should be about seven yafds behind the snapper. When snapped and if done correctly, the laces on the ball should already be facing the goal posts, kicker and emergency holder Justin Hamblin said. With the laces on either side of the ball, the kick tends to drift to that side, Jakubiak said. Once you position the laces, you can put the ball down and hold it with the pointer finger on your back hand, which would be the left if the kicker is right footed. It all depends on the kicker for the little details. Jakubiak said he likes the ball pulled in tighter to the body of the holder. The holder can also adjust the trajectory by leaning the ball forward or back so the ball leaves at a lower angle for headwinds, or for a higher angle to protect against the kick being blocked. Once the holder gets the ball down, it's all the kicker's responsibility to boot it through the uprights. "It's all about the angles and where your plant foot is," Jakubiak said. From where the ball will be held by the holder, start lining the kick up with your hips square to the target and your plant foot 10 inches to the side of where the ball will be. Jakubiak said he takes three easy steps back and two shoulderwidth steps to the side to get the needed distance for the approach. Once the ball is snapped and the holder catches it, the kicker starts in i.J planting his foot where he had it lined up and kicking the ball off the top inner part of the foot, right off the n • F I E L D GOAL ' See page 9 'UtahState, theUarid BYUhave new coaches. See what our columnist has to say. ••>J& •7?-m |