Utah State 3, San Jose State 0
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.
New Mexico State 3, Boise State 0
The No. 24 New Mexico State volleyball team swept Boise State (30-20, 30-18, 30-20) at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M., Thursday, Sept. 27.The Aggies were led by senior Kim Oguh (El Paso, Hanks HS) who blasted down 14 kills and hit .545 in the match against the Broncos.
Junior Lindsey Yon (San Antontio, Texas) also had 14 kills, while sophomore Krista Altermatt (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) picked up another double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs. Junior Krystal Torres (Las Cruces, Mayfield HS) led the defensive stand with 17 digs while she also added two aces. Head coach Mike Jordan was impressed with how his team was hitting against Boise State.
BSU had an 8-9 lead before the Aggies went on a 6-0 run to take the lead. The run was started by a kill from Yon then followed by another kill from junior Amber Simpson (Quincy, Ill.). Simpson finished the night with eight kills and no errors.
Torres served an ace in game two to tie the game at five points a piece. A kill from Simpson would start a 5-0 run before the Aggies eventually won 30-18. Oguh led the way with five kills in the middle and Torres came up with five digs while adding two assists.
Oguh put down another five kills, while freshman Brynja Rodgers (Iowa City, Iowa) had eight of her 23 assists in game three. The Aggies took the lead at 5-4 off a Bronco attack error and never looked back to win 30-20. Freshman Whitney Phillips capped off the win when she pounded down one of her three kills.
Idaho 3, Louisiana Tech 0
The University of Idaho volleyball team ran its Western Athletic Conference winning streak to three games with a 3-0 victory over Louisiana Tech Thursday night.
The Vandals (6-8, 3-1) hit their second-highest percentage of the season (.260) to earn the 34-32, 30-25, 30-22 win. The Lady Techsters fell to 5-13 and 0-5 in the WAC with the loss.
Debbie Pederson hit .357 for the match to lead the Vandals and added a career-high 14 kills. Haley Larsen finished with a match-high 17 kills and added 13 digs while Sarah Conwell chipped in 11 kills. Kelsey James had 45 assists.
Idaho had 11 service errors in the match, including five in the third game. The Vandals trailed 21-19 in the third game before rattling off 10 consecutive points on their way to the 30-22 final score.
Nevada 3, Fresno State 0
The University of Nevada(6-6, 3-2 WAC) volleyball team swept Fresno State(4-11, 2-3 WAC) by scores of 30-28, 30-23, and 30-28 in a Western Athletic Conference match at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif. Thursday night. The victory marks the first time this season the Wolf Pack have won two matches in a row. With the victory the Pack evened their season mark at 6-6 and improved to 3-2 in WAC play. The Bulldogs dropped to 4-11 overall and 2-3 in the conference.
In game one the Pack jumped to a 7-1 lead and never trailed on the way to the easy 30-20 victory. Senior Karly Sipherd closed out the first game with a kill off an assist by fellow senior Ashley Miller. The Pack had their best hitting game of the night at .333 and the Bulldogs were held to their worst attack percentage of the night at .045.
Nevada trailed midway through game two 16-10 but put together a 16-5 run move in front of the Bulldogs 26-21 and took the game 30-23. With the victory the Pack took a commanding two game lead in the match. Senior Teal Ericson and sophomore Sage Aune blocked FS senior Alisha McKee to end the second game. The Pack hit .163 and held the Bulldogs to an .070 attack percentage.
Game three was the closest night as there were 13 ties and six lead changes before the Pack closed out the match winning 30-28 to sweep the Bulldogs. Freshman Nicole Link ended the match with her 10th kill of night of a set from Miller. Nevada hit .196 in the final game and FS .106.
The Pack were led by Ericson and Sipherd who totaled 15 kills apiece. Link reached double figures in kills for the first time in her career finishing with 10. Miller dished out a match-high 38 assists and junior libero Allison Hernandez finished with a match-high 20 digs.