Sept. 6, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Utah State's women's volleyball team continued its preseason struggles here Saturday afternoon at the USF/Asics Powerade Challenge with a three-set loss (25-19, 25-18, 25-21) to UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos evened its record to 2-2 on the year with the win.

Senior outside hitter Melissa Osterloh led Utah State with 12 kills, while fellow senior outside hitter Kris Hymas added 10 kills and six digs.

Charlene DeHoog had 10 kills to lead UC Santa Barbara, while Lily Lopez added seven.

UC Santa Barbara controlled the entire match as it hit .333 (12-1-33) in set one, .348 (12-4-23) in set two, and .364 (17-5-33) in set three for the win. USU recorded 17 kills in the first set and hit .231 (17-8-39), then hit .214 (12-6-28) in set two, and .167 (11-6-30) in the third set.

Utah State finished the match by hitting .206 (40-20-97) and UC Santa Barbara hit .348 (41-10-89). The Gauchos also had three more team blocks (7-4) and one more service ace (4-3) in the match, while USU had eight more digs (34-26).

Utah State will play its final match of the tournament Saturday night at 8 p.m. against host San Francisco.