By Wade Denniston

The Utah State University women's volleyball team will look to break into the Big West Conference win column with matches on the road Thursday and Saturday.

Thursday's match finds USU (0-2 Big West, 1-8 overall) pitted against Boise State University (1-1, 4-8).

First-year Aggie head coach Tom Peterson expects nothing less than a win against the Broncos.

"Honestly, it's going to be very disappointing if we don't match-up very well, or play well against Boise State," he said.

Last year, the Broncos defeated the Aggies in five games 13-15, 15-13, 4-15, 15-10, 15-9 at the Spectrum. Boise State leads the overall series 15-1.

Saturday, USU will stay in Idaho as it plays at the University of Idaho (2-0, 11-3).

Peterson says the match with the Vandals will be the tougher of the two, but that the Aggies can compete with them.

"(The Vandals) are real good," Peterson said. "They should be very, very tough to play at their place.

"If they play good and we play good and they beat us, we can't get down about it. It will be disappointing if we don't compete well."

Last season, the Vandals made a visit to the Spectrum and prevailed over the Aggies in five games 15-9, 9-15, 15-7, 11-15, 15-10.

These matches will be the ninth and 10th for USU on the road. Despite being a little road weary, the Aggies are optimistic about coming home with two victories.

"It's another road trip, so we're a little tired right now," Aggie junior outside hitter Amy Goulding-Crosbie said. "We really, really want to get a win. We have nothing to lose and we are totally pumped to win.

"(Boise State and Idaho) better not think that our record is any reflection of the way we play because they're going to be surprised."

Peterson said his team has had three days of good practice, and now it's time to show the same intensity on the court.

"We need to transfer some of the stuff that we do in practice into a game," he said.

USU is coming off a loss at the University of Nevada-Reno last Saturday.

The Wolf Pack defeated the Aggies in five games 15-8, 8-15, 15-12, 4-15, 15-12, but if it weren't for 11 errors in the fifth game, USU could be on a one-match winning streak instead of a six-match losing streak.

"Nobody is going to win that way," Peterson said. "It was close; we could have won it."

Goulding-Crosbie led the Aggies with 18 kills. Junior middle blocker Denae Mohlman hit a team-high .250 (12 kills- 4 errors- 32 attacks).

Mohlman also recorded eight block assists and a season-high 10 digs, just missing a triple-double.

As a team, USU hit .200 for the match, while limiting Nevada to .179. However, the Aggies only hit .034 in the fifth game.

"It's not like they're this great team doing all this great stuff," Peterson told The Herald Journal. "We just made all these errors."

Although they have lost six matches in a row, the Aggies are still positive about the remainder of this season.

"Right now we're just in a rut where if we get a taste of a win, we'll be just fine," Goulding-Crosbie said. "I think our team has more than enough potential to have won every game we've played so far."

Peterson agreed.

"I sure hope that there are not any better teams than us that are 1-8," he said. "We're not a bad team, we just had a few bugs hit us at the wrong time as far as errors.

"It's our turn to get better and start winning."

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