Sept. 27, 2007

Final Stats

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Amanda Nielson recorded a match-high 13 kills, while Melissa Osterloh added her fifth double-double of the season with 10 kills and 10 digs to lead Utah State to a three-game sweep (30-25, 30-28, 30-28) against San Jose State here Thursday night. USU improves to 7-7 on the season and 4-1 in the Western Athletic Conference with the win, while the Spartans fall to 6-8 overall and 0-3 in league play with the loss.

Utah State has now won five of its last six matches after starting the season with a 2-6 record. Since joining the WAC prior to the 2005 season, USU is 5-1 against San Jose State.

Nielson, a senior outside hitter from West Valley City, Utah (Granger HS) added six digs and two blocks for Utah State to go along with her 13 kills as she hit .058 (13-10-52) in the match. Osterloh, a junior outside hitter from Sandy, Utah (Skyline HS) hit a season-high .429 (10-1-21) in the match as she added four blocks and two services to go along with her 10 kills and 10 digs.

Utah State also got solid performances from its two middle blockers in juniors Danielle Taylor (Springville, Utah) and Rebecca Anderson (Logan, Utah) as Taylor had four kills and six blocks, while Anderson had two kills and a team-high eight blocks.

San Jose State was led by Jennifer Senftleben, who had 12 kills and a match-high 16 digs.

Neither team played well offensively in game one as Utah State hit .143 (13-8-35), while San Jose State hit .103 (14-10-39). The numbers got worse for the Aggies in game two as they hit just .073 (11-8-41) as compared to a .130 (17-11-46) hitting percentage for the Spartans, but USU still notched the two-point win. USU opened a 10-point lead in game three before SJSU stormed back to within one point at 29-28 before losing the game and the match. Both teams played better offense in the third game as USU hit .250 (13-4-36), while SJSU hit .213 (19-9-47).

Both teams finished the match by hitting .152 as Utah State had 37 kills and 20 errors, while San Jose State had 50 kills and 30 errors. The Spartans also finished the match with 20 more attacks (132-112), 15 more assists (47-32) and nine more digs (52-43), while USU had three more service aces (7-4), six fewer service errors (10-4) and 10 more team blocks (17-7), which proved to be the difference in the match.

Utah State will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 29 when it plays at Fresno State at 2 p.m. (MT).

Utah State 3, San Jose State 0
USU             30            30            30
SJSU            25            28            28