VOLLEYBALL: Improving Aztecs take step back against BYU

Nothing is worse than falling back into bad habits.

Just ask the San Diego State volleyball team.

SDSU took on Mountain West Conference rivals BYU on Saturday at Peterson Gym, losing 25-17, 25-20, 26-24.

The Aztecs, who have shown great improvement in the last month, fell victim to a bad habit that has haunted them in the past.

“Here’s the difference: In our first match up against BYU this year, we had 23 errors in four sets,” head coach Mark Warner said. “Today, we had 27 in three. That was the biggest difference in the game, right there.”

SDSU (8-15, 5-8 in MWC play), which had been able to limit its mistakes throughout the past several games, gave away too many points through unforced errors and Warner had no explanation for it.

“After the game, we asked ourselves why this is happening,” Warner said. “Are we staying out too late? Are we studying too much? Obviously as a student, you need to study, but there has to be something that is distracting us.”

Errors were not the only thing that contributed to the Aztecs loss. BYU (12-11, 5-8) played a tough game and lived up to its record. The Cougars tallied 38 kills, 22 blocks and had only 12 unforced errors.

“You’ve got to give BYU some credit,” Warner said. “I’ve said all along that they were good and they certainly showed it today. You could see the talent and that they are starting to figure some things out.”

SDSU was able to last four sets against BYU in Provo, Utah, earlier this season, but was unable to last more than three at home.

“You would almost expect to play better when facing a team again while you’re at home,” Warner said. “But, instead of us getting all the breaks, all the balls seemed to fall their way.”

Helping BYU get their breaks were the referees — at least that’s how it might have appeared to the Aztecs. Several controversial calls, including a touch call in the third and deciding set at 22-22, limited SDSU’s scoring opportunities.

“In the NCAA, if you are postured to set and you gaff it, it should be called,” Warner said. “But, it turns out that this ref has been doing a lot of Pac-10 games and the coaches in that conference don’t want anything to be called which is contrary to what NCAA rules.

“It’s just interesting to see how the Pac-10 can dictate the rules. But, that didn’t cost us the match.”

With just four games left in the season, the Aztecs know they will have to improve to make Warner’s final season a memorable one.

“Right now we need to take a step back and figure some stuff out,” Warner said. “We might need to change up practice or our warm-ups a little bit, I don’t know. What I do know is that something needs to change.”

Comments

Be the first to comment on this article!

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Verify you are human:

Enter the characters in the image above: