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Show StatesmanSports Page 10 Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009 Spikers stunned in five sets By Connor Jones sports senior writer The women’s volleyball team lost its second home game of the year on Monday night against WAC rival Idaho in five sets with the scores of 26-24, 21-25, 26-24, 22-25 and 9-15. The match started at 9 p.m. and ended 20 minutes before midnight. The late start was due to the match being nationally televised on ESPNU. The Aggies couldn’t use the 1,000-plus home crowd to their advantage and with the loss, fall to 3-5 in WAC play, 12-9 overall while Idaho improves to 5-3 in the WAC and 9-11 on the season. The Valentine’s Day Killer, Liz McArthur, once again led USU with 21 kills, followed by last week’s Utah State Student-Athlete of the Week, Emily Kortsen, who had her fourth consecutive double-double with 13 digs and 12 kills. Sarah Conwell of Idaho had a match-high 28 kills, while her teammate Meredith Rice led the match in digs with 28. Junior libero Christine Morrill led Utah State in digs with 25. USU won the first set by two at 26-24 but only after allowing Idaho to fight back from four down, 23-19. In the set, USU had 16 kills on 38 attempts with seven errors for a .237 hitting percentage, while the Vandals had 12 kills on 32 attempts with six errors for a .188 percentage. The second set swung to the Vandals who beat down the Aggies for a 25-21 win to even up the match. The Vandals had a hitting percentage of .257 (15-6-35), while USU hit .189 (13-6-37). The six Aggie errors were divided among McArthur who had three kills and three errors, and freshman Josselyn White, who had four kills and three errors. The Aggies went down early in the third set only to catch up, take the lead and then fall behind again. At 23-21 the Aggies fought back for the 26-24 win. Despite the USU set win, the third set was dominated by Idaho’s Conwell, who had nine kills, one block assist and one dig. Solid play from junior inside blockers Katie Astle and Danielle Taylor helped elevate USU for the win. The two hit .500 (3-0-6) and .600 (4-1-5) percentages, respectively. USU hit .311 (17-3-45) in the third set while Idaho had a .250 (19-7-48) hitting percentage. Idaho jumped out early in the fourth set and never fell behind in the 25-22 Vandal set win. Both teams had 11 errors in the set. UI had a .053 (14-11-57) hitting percentage, while USU had a -.021 (10-11-48) percentage. The tie-break fifth set was all Vandals, who never trailed in the sixpoint – 15-9 – set win. Utah State was dominated at the net the entire match, with Idaho racking up 20.5 team blocks compared to USU’s seven. While Idaho had two more service errors than the Aggies (9-7), they made up for it with one more service ace (3-2) and seven more digs (84-77). The lady spikers hit the road on Wednesday in order to play at Boise State on Thursday at 7 p.m. and match up once again with Idaho on Saturday at 8 p.m. – c.h.j@aggiemail.usu.edu sophomore emily kortsen rises high to spike the volleyball during USU’s nationally-televised five-set loss to the Idaho Vandals. Patrick Oden photo Pitcher Doyle likes to throw baseballs By DAN FAWSON staff writer “I’m the type of person who likes to be in control of my own situation,” USU club baseball star Ryan Doyle said when asked what draws him to pitching. “Baseball is such a team game, but when you’re pitching it’s pretty much the only time where you have almost complete control of the game.” With the fall season winding down, it’s hard to argue any of the Aggie club baseball players have been more in control than their star pitcher. Coming off a spring 2009 campaign that saw him take home All-Conference honors, lead the nation in innings pitched and finish second in strikeouts, the North Logan native’s fall season has served as a platform upon which to showcase his greatest strengths. “Time and time again, everybody asks me about Ryan Doyle, and he’s just consistent,” Utah State head coach Brett Al-amari said at the beginning of the season. “You know you get solid pitching every time he goes out there.” “Solid” may often best describe Doyle’s outings, but lest one forget “dominant,” there is always the reminder of his early October complete game, shutout victory over Gate City, in which he struck out 15 Maverick batters. Doyle’s father, Norm, believes his son’s competitive fire also plays a major role in his success. “He is very competitive and hates to even have a runner reach base, let alone lose a game,” Norm said, also noting Ryan’s knowledge of the position gives him a distinct advantage over fellow pitchers. “There are a lot of pitchers that throw harder than Ryan,” Norm said, “but Ryan knows how to pitch instead of just throw.” Who’sHot? Who’sHot? Career-high 353 passing yards against Nevada Diondre Borel, junior quarterback, Football Maciej Michalik, senior defender, Ice hockey Borel aired it out on Nevada’s pass defense for a new career record. Borel also tied his career-long pass with a 77-yard toss to senior Nnamdi Gwacham. Borel has had at least one passing touchdown in five games in a row. If USU’s fourth quarter comeback wasn’t snuffed out by an abysmal offsides call which negated James Brindley’s onside kick recovery, Borel may easily have added to his already impressive offensive totals. Scored in 88th minute against San Jose State Shantel Flanary, junior forward, Women’s soccer Shantel Flanary scored in the 88th minute of Sunday’s match to send what was an impending loss to San Jose into overtime. Flanary also was the one who sent the ball into a space wide enough for Lauren Hansen to chase it down, beat four Fresno State Bulldog defenders, and net the game-winning goal against Fresno State on Friday. Flanary has been an integral part of the Aggie attack. Her touch has been felt in nearly every goal since the Utah match in September. Won fight against Boise State Four doubledoubles in last four matches A routine win over the Broncos was enlivened by a second period brawl between Michalik and Dan Bearchear. Bearchear quickly learned why Michalik is known as undisputed heavyweight champion of the ACHA West. In his Aggie career Michalik has rarely been challenged in a fight, and he pounded Bearchear’s face with a series of hard rights like LaGarrette Blount in skates. Old time hockey, Eddie Shore. Sophomore opposite side hitter, Emily Kortsen, has had four consecutive double-double matches, and committed just three errors in three matches. Last week Kortsen was awarded her first Utah State StudentAthlete of the Week after an impressive performance against Utah Valley and Fresno State. On the week Kortsen had a .393 (23-1-56) hitting percentage averaging 2.56 kills, 2.78 digs and 0.89 blocks per set. Emily Kortsen, sophomore opposite side hitter, Volleyball Doyle echoed the assessment of his father, saying his knowledge of both how to pitch and who he’s pitching to is invaluable but acknowledges he wasn’t always the cerebral pitcher he is today. Doyle said he began pitching as soon as one can start to pitch, and believes he was initially chosen for the position because he was bigger than most of the kids his age and could throw harder than they could. Doyle soon realized he would need to expand his pitching repertoire if he hoped to continue pitching at a high level. “Playing little league, I tried to throw the ball as hard as I could,” Doyle said. “Then, as you move up in levels of baseball, that doesn’t cut it anymore. You have to learn how to throw breaking balls and hit your spots.” Enter Sky View High School and former head baseball coach, Christopher “Toph” Howell. A 2004 Sky View graduate, Doyle lettered in basketball, football and baseball for the Bobcats, earning All-State Honorable Mention honors as a senior pitcher. Doyle attributes much of his high school growth and success on the mound to Howell. “Pretty much everything that I know about pitching I learned in high school from Toph,” Doyle said. “That’s where I learned how to throw a curveball and just the little ins and outs of pitching – holding runners on base, hitting your spots. I learned everything in high school.” Doyle, married, and recently turned 24, is an exercise science major hoping to one day become a physical therapist. While he is not looking forward to the day when the professional world effectively ends his competitive baseball career, he recognizes club baseball will most likely serve as the end of a very long road. “I think that whenever I’m done playing it’s going to suck,” he said. “I mean there’s not really anything that can fill the void. Baseball’s been pretty much my whole life ever since I (was) a little kid, so it will definitely be an adjustment, but you’ve just got to move on.” Post-baseball transition is the furthest thing from his mind, though. Rather than dwelling on baseball’s inevitable end, Doyle is focused on what appears to be a very promising here and now. After falling just short of a second straight Regional Tournament appearance this past spring, the Aggie lineup has added some much needed offensive pop to complement its stellar pitching staff, and players believe they are finally ready to challenge perennial powerhouse Weber State for the conference title this spring. “My first year on the team we were pretty awful,” Doyle said, stressing that while the team improved over the next two seasons, they have never been in the position they currently find themselves in at the close of fall play. “I think we’ve taken a big step forward this year as far as being one of the top teams in the conference and being able to compete with Weber for the conference championship,” Doyle said. He said the Aggie teams of the last few years probably haven’t had the offensive firepower they’ve needed to be able to realistically overtake the Wildcats but noting the addition of a few capable bats in the fall, said “I think we’re there.” Sounds like someone very in control of his current situation. – majerusforpresident@yahoo.com Corner: Borel showed pluck -continued from page 9 back in Max Komar looking like a sure-fire first team All-WAC selection. Like Idaho fans in Akey’s first year, USU fans would be well served to remember that there is a difference between turning a team around and turning a program around. And just because he’s begun the year 1-5 doesn’t mean Andersen hasn’t made progress with the latter. The Aggies are well on their way towards becoming relevant in the WAC conference. The talent is there. The coaching is there. All that is left is for the program and for the players to find a killer instinct and a will to win. And after nearly staging their own dramatic comeback in the waning moments of Saturday afternoon’s thriller, Borel and company are well on their way to learning that lesson. – adam.nettina@aggiemail.usu.edu |