Hawai`i 3, Idaho 0
In a matchup that featured Jamie Houston and Haley Larson, two of the top attackers in the country, the No. 12 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (15-3, 9-0 WAC) swept through the Idaho Vandals (9-10, 5-3) 30-25, 30-26 and 30-21 in front of a crowd of 832 at Memorial Gym Saturday.
Juliana Sanders made the difference for the Rainbow Wahine, hitting .455 with 12 kills and eight blocks. Houston had 15 kills, 20 digs and three aces while Aneli Cubi-Otineru put up 10 kills. Elizabeth Ka`aihue and Tara Hittle helped UH's floor defense with 13 and 12 digs, respectively, pushing the team to 66 digs on the match. Stephanie Brandt had another solid match, posting 42 assists, 14 digs and four blocks.
The Vandals opened game one by taking a 6-2 lead. Hawai`i took control in the middle of the game, scoring 11-straight points of the serve of Amber Kaufman to get it to 21-11. The Rainbow Wahine were able to push their lead as high as 28-16. Idaho wouldn't go away as they ran off nine-straight points, cutting their deficit back to 28-25. But UH had too much as kills by Cubi-Otineru and Houston ended game one 30-25.
After trailing 9-6 at the start of game two, but a 5-1 run capped a Hawai`i comeback that put them ahead 17-13. UH kept that cushion until a late Idaho run cut it back to 22-21. But that was as close as the Vandals would get, with UH taking the second game 30-26.
The Rainbow Wahine opened a 9-3 lead early in game three. UH later used an 8-1 run to make it 21-11 before eventually taking it 30-21.
Hawai`i will now head to Logan, Utah, to conclude their road trip vs. Utah State at 7 p.m. (3 p.m. HST) on Monday, Oct. 15.
Nevada 3, Utah State 0
The University of Nevada(9-7, 6-3 WAC) swept Utah State(9-9, 6-3 WAC) in a key Western Athletic Conference match by scores of 30-22, 30-27, and 30-23 at the Virginia Street Gym here Saturday night. With the victory the Wolf Pack moved into a tie for third place in the WAC standings with USU as both teams are now 6-3. The Pack improved to 9-7 on the season while the Aggies fell to 9-9.
Nevada scored the first three points of game one and never trailed on the way to the 30-22 victory. Senior Teal Ericson ended the first game with a kill off an assist from senior setter Ashley Miller. Both teams struggled as the Pack hit just .065 and held the Aggies to a negative -.100 attack percentage.
Game two was tied five times and there were five lead changes before the Pack prevailed 30-27. It started easy for the Pack as they led 17-9 but the Aggies put together a 17-6 run to go in front 26-23. Nevada closed out the game with a 7-1 scoring run to take the game and a 2-0 advantage into the locker room. Senior Karly Sipherd, who missed Thursday’s game with Fresno State with a concussion, served the final five points of the game. The Pack improved their attack percentage to .140 and defensively held USU to a .071 hitting percentage in game two.
Seeking to end the match in three games the Pack broke a 6-6 tie outscoring USU 11-5 to go in front 17-11 and went on to win the game 30-23 to complete the 3-0 sweep. Freshman Kylie Harrington ended the match with her career-high 14th kill of the night off a Miller assist. Nevada improved its attack percentage to .364 and the Aggies also increased theirs to .243 in the final game.
Nevada was led by Ericson and Harrington who tied for match high honors with 14 kills apiece. Ericson hit an outstanding .345 while Harrington hit .182. Miller dished out a match-high 39 assists and added seven digs. Libero Allison Hernandez posted a match-high 16 digs on the night.
Amanda Nielson led USU with 10 digs but hit negative -.023 committing 11 errors on 43 attempts. Setter Chelsea Fowles had 23 assists to the lead the Aggies and Christine Morrill topped the team with 10 digs.
San Jose State 3, Boise State 0
Boise, Idaho?The San Jose State volleyball team got contributions from everyone on the floor to defeat Boise State, 30-23, 30-16, 30-23, Saturday evening in a Western Athletic Conference match.
Colleen Burke led the team Spartan hitting attack with a .588 percent as she recorded 11 kills on 17 attempts and had just one hitting error. She added three service aces and a solo block. Jennifer Senftleben added 10 kills and six digs, while Niki Clement recorded nine kills in the victory.
Keri Anglin led the Spartan block with seven, one solo and six assists, and added seven kills, two digs and a service ace. Brianna Amian added four block assists, four digs and two kills. Kristal Tsukano and Clement each recorded 13 digs to lead San Jose State.
Emily Burke had another solid match with 35 assists, nine digs, two kills and two aces. Courtney Zellmer added five digs and two assists, while Thao Pham had two digs and two service aces. Kelly Crow contributed nine digs, a service ace and a kill.
Fresno State 3, Louisiana Tech 0
The Fresno State Bulldogs swept the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters for the second time this season in Western Athletic Conference volleyball action Saturday afternoon (Oct. 13) at the Lambright Intermural Center in Ruston, La. The game scores were 30-19, 30-16 and 30-28.
Fresno State came out swinging in game one hitting .200, led by Alisha McKee with three kills and Kasey Van Grouw hitting .667 with four digs. The Lady Techsters were as close as two at 10-8 but the Bulldogs pulled away from there, outscoring La. Tech 20-11 the rest of the way. La. Tech hit .071 and had four blocks as a team.
The Bulldogs were even hotter in game two, hitting .267 and holding the Lady Techsters to a negative .143 percentage. Angela Wiggins had five kills in the game and hit .286. Tiffany Hess added three service aces, in one serving rotation, to tie a career-high.
Louisiana Tech made some adjustments at the break as they made game three close. The Bulldogs were up 17-10 before La. Tech went on a 9-3 run to tie the game at 19-19. The Lady Techsters then took a 23-21 lead. Meghan Moss then came in to serve an ace to get the Bulldogs within one at 23-22 and a block by McKee and Lauren Berger tied it at 23.
Tied at 24, points rallied back-and-forth until a solo block by McKee gave the Bulldogs the 27-26 lead for good. Game three and the match ended with a service error by La. Tech.
Wiggins led the Bulldogs in kills for the second-straight match with 11 and McKee also contributed 10 kills, respectively. Van Grouw had her fourth career double-double with 11 digs and 14 assists.
As a team, Fresno State led the Lady Techsters in almost every statistical category as the Bulldogs hit .158 and had 41 digs and eight blocks.
Bulldogs swept the first match of the year in Fresno on Sept 15. Fresno State has now won five-straight matches against the Lady Techsters dating back to last season and lead the overall series 10-2.