Utah won’t be able to lick its wounds from Tuesday’s five-set loss to BYU for very long.
After losing to the Cougars in an emotionally tough match, the Utes left Wednesday afternoon to head down to Las Cruces, N.M. to prepare to face the Aggies of New Mexico State on Thursday night.
The match could prove to be a nice reprieve before Pac-12 play begins next week for a Utah team that not only suffered its first loss of the season at the hands of the Cougars, but also got some of its weaknesses exposed. The Aggies enter the contest with a 3-6 record.
“Yeah, we wanted to beat [BYU],” said senior outside hitter Morgan Odale, who was held to a season-low .061 hitting percentage by the Cougars on Tuesday. “At the same time, it’s really about the Pac-12 that we want to beat. Even though it was an important match, we just need to move on.”
In that sense, the Utes’ mental toughness will be tested Thursday night. If they are unable to move on from their loss to BYU, the Aggies may prove to be more of a challenge than what they appear to be on paper.
“As a competitor you just have to [take what you can get],” said Utah head coach Beth Launiere about the schedule after Tuesday night’s contest. “You just got to let it go. It’s going to hurt for a while, but then we got to get back to it tomorrow.”
In addition to having to rebound from the first loss of the season, the Utes will also be less rested than New Mexico State, as the Aggies haven’t played since beating Northern Illinois last Saturday. New Mexico State redshirt sophomore middle hitter Gwen Murphy had five blocks and a career high eight kills in that match. The Aggies have also had two players earn double doubles this season, senior outside hitter Lauren Loerch and sophomore outside hitter Bradley Nash.
Besides starting another win streak, a victory Thursday night would be a good confidence builder for Utah, as the contest will be the team’s final one before commencing conference play against Colorado next Tuesday.
“We got to keep that desire of winning,” said junior outside hitter Chelsey Schofield. “Go into New Mexico the same way with that same energy and desire.”
The match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.