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Show Monday, Sept. 20, 2010 Page 9 MondayS110 Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com Aggies can't leash Bulldogs in home loss By ADAM NETTINA sports editor Utah State's players and coaches talked all week about how much it would mean to get a win over conference foe Fresno State. They talked of the past two games against the Bulldogs, and how close the Aggies were to beating the perennial Western Athletic Conference (WAC) heavyweight. They talked about the importance of winning games against quality teams, and correcting the self-inflicted mistakes which have led to so many close losses over the past two seasons. But when the final second ticked off the clock in Saturday's 41-24 loss to Fresno State, the Aggies and their head coach instead found themselves experiencing a bad case of déjà vu. "I don't have a lot to say overall," said USU heach coach Gary Andersen after the game. "We got beat by the better team today." The better team would have been hard to pick out during the first half of Saturday's action. USU (1-2, 0-1 WAC) went toe-to-toe with Fresno State (2-0, 1-0) for the first thirty minutes of the game, stopping the Bulldogs on their first series when Bulldog head coach Pat Hill gambled on a fourth and one. Shortly thereafter, USU quarterback Diondre Borel eluded a sack and found receiver Dontel Watkins in the corner of the endzone to give the Aggies an early 7-0 lead. USU used a hurry-up offense to strike early at the Bulldogs. Peter Caldwell continued the first half scoring for USU by booting a 50 yard field goal, while Michael Smith took a handoff from Diondre Borel three yards into the endzone to put the Aggies up 17-10 with just over six minutes left to play in the first half. "They did a really good job of (playing) up-tempo," Hill said. "I just don't think we were quite ready for that." Despite jumping out early and finding success against the Fresno State defense, the Aggies and Bulldogs went into the half tied at 17. Fresno State received a significant boost before the right half when Rashad Evans returned a punt 50 yards to set up a short field, which Bulldog quarterback Ryan Colburn took advantage of when he ran in for an eight yard touchdown. The two teams traded salvos early in the third quarter after USU started out strong. The Aggies received a great defensive play when end Quinn Garner picked off Ryan Colburn thanks to a deflection by cornerback Chris Randle, but USU was unable to capitalize when Caldwell missed a 37 yard field goal attempt. The Aggie defense held strong, however, and after another stop of Fresno's offense, Borel FRESNO STATE RUNNINGBACK TRACEY SLOCUM fights through the Utah State defense during the Bulldogs' final touchdown drive to take a 41-24 lead Saturday. 230 of Fresno State's 379 total yards came on the ground, allowing the Bulldogs to nearly double-up the Aggies in second half time of possession. TODD JONES photo I See BULLDOGGED, page 11 Volleyball still hot despitefirst loss of 2010 season By RHETT WILKINSON staff writer Talk about a bittersweet weekend. The Utah State volleyball team (12-1) went 2-1 in the Utah State Invitational this weekend, defeating Loyola Marymount and UC-Riverside at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan while falling to Utah Valley University. Friday's loss to the Wolverines was the Aggies' first of the season, snapping an 11-0 start that matched the third-best start in school history. Both junior outside hitter Liz McArthur and senior libero Christine Morrill represented the Aggies on the all-tournament team. Loyola Marymount outside hitter Felicia Arriola was named the tournament's MVP. The Aggies began the weekend on Friday morning with a five-set victory (25-16, 18-25, 25-19, 22-25, 1614) over Loyola Marymount, led by 22 kills from McArthur. Sophomore outside hitter Josselyn White posted her first career double-double with 12 kills and a career-high 12 digs. The surprise event of the showcase was the Aggies' Friday night defeat (25-16, 29-27, 25-27, 23-25, 18-20) at the hands of the Wolverines (8-6), who extended their own winning streak to six before falling to Loyola Marymount on Saturday. It was also surprising considering the Aggies began the match with a 2-0 set advantage. "That's the way in-state matches are," said USU head coach Grayson DuBose. "They're very emotional and highly-charged. That is pretty typical of just about every (in-state) match we play." Wolverine senior outside hitter Kayli Doxey had a match-high 26 kills during the five-set match, which saw three of the sets go into extra points. Eight of the kills came in a critical fourth set that saw 28 ties and Mead changes - only to precede a fifth set that saw six kills from Doxey, 42 ties, and 17 lead changes. "We were on our heels because their record and invincibility scared us a bit, but seeing we could hang with them that second game really motivated us," said Doxey. "We saw what BYU did to them (in an Aggie win Sept. 14 in Provo), being able to tie it up at 2-2, so we thought we could do it." USU's Liz McAthur was complimentary of the tournament's MVP. "She's a big hitter and likes to swing hard, and she's good at hitting it off the block. We tried to get our hands over so we could block her, but she kept swinging," McArthur said. Wolverine sophomore Erica Nish, who led her team with seven blocks and made several critical stops on the Aggies' powerful outside hitters, was not reluctant to appreciate the upset. "It felt really good - I'm not going to lie, to break their winning streak," she said. "If we can remember this win tonight and bring it to other games when we get in a rut, we can pull (those) out." The win was especially sweet for local product Jaicee Kuresa, a UVU junior who attended Mountain Crest High School. Kuresa had several family and friends come to the Spectrum in support of her. "It was a big game for us," said the outside hitter, who had six blocks in the thriller. "Utah State was 11-0. We knew we needed to come ready, and we were slow at first, but recovered." I See VOLLEYBALL, page 11 MIDDLE BLOCKER KATIE ASTLE protects the net during Friday's match versus Utah Valley University. The Aggies lost of the season against the Wolverines, but won two other matches to improve to 12-I this season. 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