Weber State University Athletics
Saturday, September 17
Ogden
2:00 PM
Weber State University
6-5,0-0Big Sky
2
vs
3
Utah State
8-3,0-0Mountain West
1
2
3
4
5
F
Utah St.
30
25
19
19
15
3
Weber St.
28
20
25
25
13
2
Photo by: Robert Casey
Wildcats Finish Non-Conference Action, Drop Heartbreaker to Aggies
9/17/2022 5:20:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
OGDEN, Utah – In its final match of its non-conference schedule, the Weber State Wildcat volleyball team nearly had its second dramatic comeback of the week, but ultimately fell to the Utah State Aggies 3-2 (28-30, 20-25, 25-19, 25-19, 13-15) on Saturday afternoon in Swenson Gym.
It was a hotly contested opening set with both teams hitting and defending well. The lead exchanged hands on numerous occasions throughout the set and the squads ended up going to extra points. Although the Wildcats had a couple of set points, Utah State was able to fight back and clinch the set 30-28.
The following set was a bit more wide open and the Aggies were able to control things from the get go. Utah State rode the momentum of five service aces to carry the set 25-20.
Things really started picking up in the third set. The Wildcats were able to get five service aces of their own, three of which came from the right arm of Jayda Tupea, and the offense put in some work tallying 11 kills – including five from true freshman Ashley Gneiting. Weber State got on the board with a 25-19 set victory.
The near 900 people in attendance were welcomed to the Baylee Bodily show in the fourth set. Bodily was flawless with six kills on six swings and chipped in two blocks to help Weber State gather the separation it needed. The Wildcats ran it back with an identical 25-19 score in the fourth set, moving to their second-consecutive five-set match.
Back and forth the two teams went in the fifth set. The Wildcats held a lead at 10-9, but Utah State scored two points in a row to give the Aggies a lead they didn't relinquish. USU clung to a 15-13 set five victory over a young Wildcat squad.
Weber State fought extremely hard and nearly pulled of its second reverse sweep in as many matches, but fell to 6-5 to wrap up its non-conference schedule.
NOTABLES
- Bodily nearly doubled her previous career high with 18 kills, and set a new career high with 36 attempts. She swung an incredible .469% for the match.
- Grass is green, the sky is blue, and Kate Standifird set a new career high in assists with 49. "The Professor" also tied her career high in digs with 19.
- Tupea led the Wildcats with four service aces in the match.
- Makayla Sorensen tallied another double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs. She's now 19 digs away from joining the exclusive 1,000-dig club.
QUOTABLES
"Being aggressive was key for me. I went after it every point. I feel like every play I was doing my best to do my job. I think that non-conference play has shown us that we have learned our identity and who we are. In the preseason we didn't know who we were. Now we are getting a feeling for our identity and that we are fighters and we compete. We are young, we're a young team." – Baylee Bodily
"I think it was a good performance for the team overall. We competed really hard and we could tell that we were working as one cohesive unit and I'm really proud of us for that. (Non-conference play) taught us a lot about how to work together and push through hard things. We are a better team now than we were at the beginning of the season. Even though it's been a hard non-conference schedule, we are grateful that we were able to play the teams that we did because they taught us how to work as a unit." – Emma Mangum
"This loss stings, but we learned from it. We grew in today's match." – Jeremiah Larsen
UP NEXT
Weber State travels to the northwest and opens its Big Sky Conference schedule against Portland State - one of the preseason favorites to win the conference. The match will be on Thursday, September 22 at 8:00 MT. WSU will have its Big Sky home opener on Saturday, September 24 at 6:00 against the NAU Lumberjacks.
All regular season and postseason home and Big Sky Conference matches can be seen on ESPN+.
TICKETS
Season and single match tickets are on sale and can be purchased online or by calling the Weber State ticket office at 801-626-8500.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Make sure to follow Weber State volleyball on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter to stay up to date with everything happening with the Wildcats.
It was a hotly contested opening set with both teams hitting and defending well. The lead exchanged hands on numerous occasions throughout the set and the squads ended up going to extra points. Although the Wildcats had a couple of set points, Utah State was able to fight back and clinch the set 30-28.
The following set was a bit more wide open and the Aggies were able to control things from the get go. Utah State rode the momentum of five service aces to carry the set 25-20.
Things really started picking up in the third set. The Wildcats were able to get five service aces of their own, three of which came from the right arm of Jayda Tupea, and the offense put in some work tallying 11 kills – including five from true freshman Ashley Gneiting. Weber State got on the board with a 25-19 set victory.
The near 900 people in attendance were welcomed to the Baylee Bodily show in the fourth set. Bodily was flawless with six kills on six swings and chipped in two blocks to help Weber State gather the separation it needed. The Wildcats ran it back with an identical 25-19 score in the fourth set, moving to their second-consecutive five-set match.
Back and forth the two teams went in the fifth set. The Wildcats held a lead at 10-9, but Utah State scored two points in a row to give the Aggies a lead they didn't relinquish. USU clung to a 15-13 set five victory over a young Wildcat squad.
Weber State fought extremely hard and nearly pulled of its second reverse sweep in as many matches, but fell to 6-5 to wrap up its non-conference schedule.
NOTABLES
- Bodily nearly doubled her previous career high with 18 kills, and set a new career high with 36 attempts. She swung an incredible .469% for the match.
- Grass is green, the sky is blue, and Kate Standifird set a new career high in assists with 49. "The Professor" also tied her career high in digs with 19.
- Tupea led the Wildcats with four service aces in the match.
- Makayla Sorensen tallied another double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs. She's now 19 digs away from joining the exclusive 1,000-dig club.
QUOTABLES
"Being aggressive was key for me. I went after it every point. I feel like every play I was doing my best to do my job. I think that non-conference play has shown us that we have learned our identity and who we are. In the preseason we didn't know who we were. Now we are getting a feeling for our identity and that we are fighters and we compete. We are young, we're a young team." – Baylee Bodily
"I think it was a good performance for the team overall. We competed really hard and we could tell that we were working as one cohesive unit and I'm really proud of us for that. (Non-conference play) taught us a lot about how to work together and push through hard things. We are a better team now than we were at the beginning of the season. Even though it's been a hard non-conference schedule, we are grateful that we were able to play the teams that we did because they taught us how to work as a unit." – Emma Mangum
"This loss stings, but we learned from it. We grew in today's match." – Jeremiah Larsen
UP NEXT
Weber State travels to the northwest and opens its Big Sky Conference schedule against Portland State - one of the preseason favorites to win the conference. The match will be on Thursday, September 22 at 8:00 MT. WSU will have its Big Sky home opener on Saturday, September 24 at 6:00 against the NAU Lumberjacks.
All regular season and postseason home and Big Sky Conference matches can be seen on ESPN+.
TICKETS
Season and single match tickets are on sale and can be purchased online or by calling the Weber State ticket office at 801-626-8500.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Make sure to follow Weber State volleyball on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter to stay up to date with everything happening with the Wildcats.
Team Stats
USU
Weber
Kills
71
59
Errors
28
15
Attempts
192
166
Hitting %
.224
.265
Points
88
80
Assists
69
55
Aces
10
9
Blocks
7
12
Game Leaders
Kills
18
Aces
1
Blocks
6
Kills
14
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
8
Aces
2
Blocks
5
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Women's VolleyballOH
/ Women's VolleyballOPP
/ Women's Volleyball
S
/ Women's VolleyballL/OH
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's VolleyballWeber State vs. Portland State
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