Louisiana Tech 3, Utah State 2 – Louisiana Tech snapped a 27-match WAC losing streak with a five-set win over Utah State Saturday in the Thomas Assembly Center. Set scores were 25-22, 26-24, 22-25, 20-25 and 15-6. With the win, the Techsters improve to 11-6 overall and 1-0 in the WAC. Utah State falls to 8-6 overall and 0-2 in WAC play.
KC Clayton led all Techsters with 17 kills and eight blocks, followed by Nataliya Panova, who recorded her sixth double-double of the season totaling 14 kills and a career-high 22 digs. Libero Lori Hunsucker recorded 19 digs.
The Aggies were led by Liz McArthur, who tallied a match-high 24 kills to go along with 12 digs. Christine Morrill posted a match-high 26 digs in the loss.
LA Tech had never won its WAC opener since joining the conference in 2001.
Boise State 3, San Jose State 2 – In a come-from-behind match, Boise State earned its first win of the season Saturday, defeating San Jose State at Spartan Gym by scores of 17-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-13. The Broncos improve to 1-11 overall and 1-1 in the WAC, while the Spartans fall to 0-12 overall and 0-2 in WAC play.
As a team, Boise State hit .240 with 54 kills, eight service aces and 10 blocks. San Jose State hit .227 with 62 kills, while adding 12 service aces and five blocks.
The Broncos were led by Sadie Maughan, who collected a career-high of 20 kills on .459 hitting to go along with a team-high seven blocks. Breann Nesselhuf dished out 40 assists, while Kersti Whitney and Amanda Remy had 14 and 12 digs, respectively.
The Spartans were led by Taylor Japhet, who tallied 16 kills, while Kylie Miraldi hit .611 with 13 kills and added a team-high three blocks. Kristal Tsukano had a double-double of 13 digs and 14 kills. Thao Pham posted match highs of 14 digs and four service aces.
Nevada 3, Fresno State 1 – Nevada volleyball opened WAC play with a 3-1 victory over Fresno State by scores of 25-23, 21-25, 25-23 and 26-24 at the Virginia Street Gym Saturday. With the victory the Wolf Pack improves to 5-9 on the season and 1-0 in conference play. The Bulldogs fall to 7-6 on the year and 0-1 in WAC play. The victory marks the ninth consecutive year the Pack have won their conference opener.
Nevada hit .205 in the match compared to the .105 attack percentage of Fresno State. The Pack also out-blocked Fresno State 12-7.
Kaylie Harrington led Nevada with with career highs of 22 kills and 20 digs to post her fourth double-double of the season. Elissa Ji posted a career-high 15 kills and added 14 digs to record her first career double-double, while Lindsay Baldwin finished with 10 kills and 10 blocks for her first double-double of the season. Nicole Link tallied a match-high 22 digs, while Tatiana Santiago dished out a match-high 40 assists.
Fresno State also had three players reach double figures in kills in the match as Baylee Platt, Kelly Leonardo and Brianna Clarke totaled 21, 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Platt added 10 digs to record a double-double.
Hawai'i 3, Idaho 0 – No. 4 Hawai’i picked up its seventh straight win Saturday night, beating Idaho 25-13, 25-11, 25-19 in front of 6,286 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbow Wahine improve to 11-2 on the season and 2-0 in WAC play, while Idaho falls to 5-8 overall and 1-1 in the WAC. UH has won seven straight matches by a score of 3-0.
Dani Mafua had 35 assists, four kills and five blocks in the match. Mafua helped set UH to a .640 hitting percentage in the second set, a season-high. Stephanie Ferrell had a match-high 12 kills and hit .417 for the match, while Aneli Cubi-Otineru had 11 kills, nine digs and three aces and Kanani Danielson had seven kills, eight digs and two blocks.
Idaho was led by Sarah Conwell with eight kills.