Utah State 3, Fresno State 1
Amanda Nielson recorded season-highs with 28 kills and 15 digs and Melissa Osterloh added her sixth double-double on the year with 18 kills and a season-high 16 digs to lead Utah State to a four-game win (30-26, 30-19, 28-30, 30-28) against Fresno State here Saturday afternoon.
Utah State, who has won six of its last seven matches after starting the year with a 2-6 record, improves to 8-7 on the season and 5-1 in the Western Athletic Conference with the win, while Fresno State falls to 4-12 overall and 2-4 in league play with the loss.
Utah State hit .214 (19-7-56) in the opening game as compared to a .127 (16-8-63) hitting percentage for Fresno State to notch the four-point win. USU then hit a blistering .484 (17-2-31) in game two, while FSU hit .065 (11-9-31) as the Aggies notched the 11-point win. Utah State seemed poised to record the three-game sweep after building a 27-20 advantage in game three but the Bulldogs scored 10 of the final 11 points to extend the match. In the third game, USU hit .326 (19-4-46), while FSU hit .240 (20-8-50). After suffering the two-point loss, Utah State regrouped in game four and hit .196 (16-6-51), as compared to a .155 (18-9-58) hitting percentage for Fresno State, to win the match.
New Mexico State 3, Idaho 1
Junior Amber Simpson led the New Mexico State volleyball team on the defensive side of the net to a 3-1 (30-21, 29-31, 30-16, 30-14) victory over Idaho at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M., Saturday, Sept. 29 to take the Aggies to 13-3 and 5-1 in Western Athletic Conference play.
Simpson (Quincy, Ill.) set up a total of 13 blocks, while she added 13 kills and two digs. She also came up with a .375 hitting percentage on the afternoon.
Senior Kim Oguh (El Paso, Hanks) led the offensive attack with 19 kills and a .333 hitting percentage and a service ace, while junior Krystal Torres led once again in digs with 23. Along with Simpson and Oguh, there were a total of five Aggies with double-digit kills. Senior Anna Callis (Corpus Christi, Texas) had 10 kills, junior Lindsey Yon (San Antonio, Texas) had 16 kills, and sophomore Krista Altermatt (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) had 14 kills.
Oguh came out on fire in game one as she had eight kills and a .462 hitting percentage. Callis and Altermatt added kills in the middle of a 6-1 run to take an 18-12 lead before winning 30-21.
Game two saw 13 ties and four lead changes, but Idaho came out on top at the end to win 31-29. Oguh and Yon had five kills a piece, while Altermatt and Simpson added four kill each. The Aggies just dominated games three and four winning 30-16 and 30-14 respectivley. Simpson had five total blocks in game three and four in game four.
Louisiana Tech 3, Boise State 2
Louisiana Tech (6-13; 1-5 WAC) never lost heart Saturday night and won in five games against Boise State (3-10; 0-6 WAC) 25-30, 28-30, 30-23, 30-23 and 15-13.
The Broncos took the first two games of the match, but the Lady Techsters rallied back and won convincingly for the remainder of the night. Service errors were a great part of the game for the Broncos as they tallied 16 for the night compared to only four service aces.
Senior Kristen Fairbanks had a career night tallying 22 kills and 18 digs, while senior Shannon Phillips finished with 20 kills and 13 digs. Senior setter Jill Walker added a season-high 56 assists, while junior Brittney Nakamura finished with 26 digs. Sophomore Samantha Crowder also brought home 10 kills and totaled 4.0 blocks, while junior Debora Bolonhini added 11 digs.
Nevada 3, San Jose State 0
The University of Nevada(7-6, 4-2 WAC) volleyball team swept San Jose State University(6-9, 0-4 WAC) by scores of 30-28, 30-18, and 31-29 in a Western Athletic Conference match at Spartan Gym in San Jose, Calif. Saturday night. With the victory the Wolf Pack have won a season-high three in a row while the Spartans have lost their last six.
The Pack are now 7-6 on the season and 4-2 in WAC play while SJSU is 6-9 and winless at 0-4 in conference action. With one match remaining in a five-match WAC road swing the Pack has gone 3-1 which includes three consecutive road victories.
Game one was tied for the sixth and final time at 12-12 before the Pack put together a 5-0 run to go in front 17-12 and never trailed as they held on for a 30-28 victory. Senior Teal Ericson ended the game with her 10th kill on an assists from senior setter Ashley Miller who had 15 assists in the first game. Nevada hit .286 and the Spartans .217 in the first game.
Nevada scored the first six points of game two and cruised to the easy 30-18 victory to take a 2-0 games lead in the match. Freshman Kylie Harrington’s kill off a set by Miller sealed the Pack victory. The Pack hit .200 and held SJSU to a negative -.111 attack percentage in game two.
Looking to close out the match in three games Nevada would need to rally to knock off the Spartans 31-29 to take the match. There were nine ties and six lead changes before the Pack prevailed in the final game. Trailing 29-28 Nevada got a kill from Harrington to tie the game at 29-29. Karly Sipherd and Harrington blocked SJSU’s Emily Burke to put the Pack in front 30-29 and sophomore Jorgan Staker’s 10th kill of the night off a set by KatiJo Matthews scored point 31 to end the match. Nevada hit .250 in the final game and the Spartans .190.
Ericson led the Pack with a match-high 20 kills and hit .302 on the night. Sipherd and Staker finished with 11 and 10 kills respectively. Miller dished out a match-high 46 assists. Libero Allison Hernandez tallied a match-high 22 digs and Nicole Link added 10.
SJSU did not have a player reach double digits in kills but were led by Jennifer Senftleben’s eight on the night. Setter Emily Burke had 28 assists in the match. Three Spartan players had double digit digs in the match; Niki Clement(13), Kristal Tsukano(13), and Emily Burke(11).