Boise State 3, Nevada 1
The Boise State volleyball team earned a crucial 3-1 (25-15, 25-23, 19-25, 25-22) win over Nevada on Saturday (Nov. 6) keeping their 2010 Western Athletic Conference tournament hopes alive. The Broncos (18-11, 5-8 WAC) were tied with Fresno State for the No. 6 spot in the WAC standings heading into Saturday's match with the Wolf Pack (13-13, 7-6 WAC) and now hold the upper hand in the standings.
The win marks the most for Boise State since 1998 when head coach Mark Rosen led the Broncos to an 18-9 record. Boise State also tied the 2010 record with Nevada (1-1), avenging their Oct. 7 loss in Boise, Idaho (3-1).
The Broncos fed off their two senior middle blockers Alisha Young and Sadie Maughan to earn the win with Young tallying 16 kills and Maughan 11 kills. Maughan also led the match in hitting percentage (.500, 11-2-18), while Young notched the top mark in blocks with eight (two solo).
Maughan was a big factor in the Broncos' 25-19 first-set win, notching an outstanding .800 hitting percentage with four kills on five attempts. The Broncos jumped to an immediate lead and cruised to a 25-15 win.
In the second set, Boise State and Nevada were tied at 3-3 before Nevada jumped out to a solid lead, holding as much as a four-point cushion on the Broncos. Boise State slowly worked their way back into the match, tying it up at 17-17. Boise State took over with an 18-17 score, but Nevada quickly worked their way back to a 19-19 tie. From there Boise State went up and were able to hold on, closing out the set 25-23 on a kill by Young.
After the intermission, Nevada played Boise State point-by-point to the 8-8 mark before taking over the lead. The Wolf Pack led by as much as seven points (24-17) before Kylie Harrington sealed the 25-17 set win with a block.
The fourth set looked to be a repeat of the third, but Boise State gained momentum late on a Kersti Whitney ace serve to tie the set 18-18. The Broncos' ace was followed by two solid kills by Maughan, carrying the Broncos' energy through to a 25-22 win.
Proving to be big factors in the win were outside hitters Cailin Fellows and Fiona Jones who tallied 11 kills (.375) and 10 kills (.222), respectively. Both Fellows and Jones added three blocks each, while Jones also earned her sixth double-double of the season adding a career-high of 18 digs to her stats. Amanda Remy added 15 digs to the Bronco's defense while joining Young, Whitney and Lauren Hamm in earning the team's four aces on the day. Breann Nesselhuf added 53 assists, three kills, three blocks and eight digs in the win.
Nevada's Harrington led the match in kills with 18 (.213), while Lindsay Baldwin led the team with six blocks. Tatiana Santiago racked up 39 assists, while Nicole Link earned 18 digs to lead the Wolf Pack.
The all-time series moves to a 26-20 record with Nevada holding the lead.
Overall Boise State tallied 61 kills and a .289 hitting percentage, four aces, 64 digs and 22 blocks. Nevada was held to 54 kills (.218), two aces, 59 digs and 15 blocks.
New Mexico State 3, San Jose State 1
After dropping set one, the New Mexico State volleyball team (17-10, 11-2 WAC) went on to defeat San Jose State (8-19, 3-10 WAC) in the Pan American Center, Saturday, Nov. 6, with two Aggies posting double-doubles on the night.
Senior Kayleigh Giddens posted her 10th double-double of the year with a match-high 22 kills and 13 digs, while junior setter Jennah DeVries marked her seventh double-double with 51 assists and a match-high 15 digs leading the way to a 3-1 win (27-29, 25-19, 25-17, 25-20).
The Aggies came out a little sluggish in set one, losing 29-27, marking 13 attack errors as a team. NM State fought throughout the set as there were 15 ties and seven lead changes. Giddens finished the set with nine kills but it was not enough for the Aggies as SJSU had only four attack errors.
"We had a few unforced errors to start the match, but we were able to turn it around in set two," head coach Mike Jordan said. "Michelle Kuester and Rocio Gutierrez came in and gave us a good lift, while the rest of the team followed their lead."
NM State took an early 13-5 lead in set two, but a 9-1 scoring rally by the Spartans took the score to 17-16 in favor of the visiting team. A few errors by the Spartans took the momentum away and the Aggies took advantage with Giddens closing out the set with a kill. The Aggies took set two 25-19 with only four attack errors.
Set three was dominated by the Aggies as the team marked a .324 hitting percentage while holding the Spartans to a .057 hitting percentage. Gutierrez tallied four kills in the set before finishing with 10 on the night.
The Aggies won set four 25-20 with Kuester one of her three kills in the set. She also had six total blocks on the night with NM State finishing with 13 total team blocks, which ties the high for the season.
Idaho 3, Utah State 2
It took extra points in two of the five sets, but in the end, the Idaho volleyball team pulled out its second five-set road win in three days, beating Utah State 24-26, 25-19, 25-21, 16-26 and 21-19.
The win boosts Idaho to 12-11 on the season and 7-5 in the Western Athletic Conference, while Utah State drops to 18-8 and 6-7 in the WAC.
The win also avenges Idaho’s home loss to the Aggies earlier this season, and strengthens Idaho’s positioning for a spot in the six-team WAC tournament. Idaho entered the match just a half game behind Nevada and a half game ahead of Utah State in fourth place in the conference standings.
The Vandals were led by double-doubles from Allison Walker and Jenny Feicht. Walker finished the match with 27 kills and 11 digs and added five blocks, while Feicht racked up 60 assists and 10 digs.
Alicia Milo had 19 kills and hit .239 in the match, and Kelsey Taylor finished with 14 kills, six digs and four blocks while hitting .393.
The Vandals had a chance to take a 1-0 lead as they held a 24-20 advantage in the first game, but Utah State managed to rally off six consecutive points to steal the game 26-24. But Idaho bounced back to take the next two sets and pull ahead 2-1, before the Aggies rolled to a 25-16 win in the fourth game to force a decisive game five.
“We almost won game one, and we should have, but the kids fought hard and it took 11 of us to get the job done,” Idaho coach Debbie Buchanan said.
The Vandals hit .281 as a team, finishing the match with 73 kills and 26 errors on 167 attempts. Utah State hit .262 in the match, and both teams finished with 10.5 total blocks. The Vandals held a 63-57 advantage in digs and a 4-3 edge in aces.
Idaho finishes its road trip going 2-0, with both wins coming in five sets after the Vandals took down Nevada on Thursday.
Fresno State 3, Louisiana Tech 0
Junior Brianna Clarke's match-best 15 kills and .560 hitting efficiency helped the Fresno State volleyball team complete a season sweep of Louisiana Tech with a 3-0 victory in Ruston on Saturday evening.
Fresno State (11-14, 5-8 WAC) won in straight sets (25-22, 25-17 and 25-18) for the fourth time this year and improved to 16-3 against Louisiana Tech (12-17, 1-11 WAC) in the all-time series between the Western Athletic Conference schools.
"This win was a must so we're pleased with the accomplishment," head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell said after the match. "It's always impressive to beat a team twice, especially in their town. It was a good Saturday for Fresno State in Ruston."
Fresno State also defeated Louisiana Tech 40-34 in football behind a school-record rushing performance by Robbie Rouse and the soccer team will compete for a WAC championship on Sunday afternoon in Ruston after winning twice earlier this week.
The volleyball weekly "Fighting Spirit" Award went to Clarke and seniors Kelly Mason and Meghan Moss.
"Kelly and Bri practiced and competed hard, consistently," Netherby-Sewell noted of the special award. "They give us the same efforts no matter the day, score or team. Moss is amazing. She's lost her opportunity to play because of injury, but she practices serving, follows team rules, cheers on her teammates and makes daily efforts to recover. She's a great role model."
Clarke's power from the middle and the leadership of the senior class will be critical over the last three matches of the WAC regular season play.
The fierce fight for one of the last spots is set to be decided over the next few weeks and Fresno State maintains a slight edge over Boise State, who picked up an upset 3-1 win on the road at Nevada earlier Saturday, for the sixth and final spot in the WAC Tournament.
While both the Bulldogs and Broncos sport 5-8 records against conference opponents, Fresno State holds the head-to-head tiebreaker after sweeping Boise State in both matches this season.