San Jose State 3, Utah State 0
With her fourth ace of the night, Hanah Blume sealed the upset win for San Jose State over conference leader Utah State, 3-0 (25-22, 26-24, 25-21) Saturday night at Spartan Gym. With the win, the Spartans improve to 13-14 overall and 9-8 in the WAC. The Aggies fall to 19-8 on the season and 14-3 in WAC play.
The 13 wins matches is the most the Spartans have won since the 2008 season, while the nine WAC wins is the most since 2006 when the team was 9-7.
SJSU out-hit Utah State .216 to .146. The Spartans also had more kills (50-30), assists (45-25), service aces (4-2) and digs (50-47). The Aggies out-blocked SJSU, 9-8.
Mary Alice O'Reilly led the Spartans with 14 kills as she hit .393 for the match. Krista Miller added 11 kills and nine digs. Michaela Leonard had 40 assists and five digs, while Kiely Pieper had 17 digs.
Utah State was led by Shay Sorensen with 12 kills and Josselyn White with 12 digs.
UTSA 3, New Mexico State 1
After dropping the first set, the Roadrunners rallied to defeat New Mexico State in four sets (16-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-20) in WAC action Saturday. With the win, UTSA improves to 19-8 overall and 12-5 in WAC play. NM State falls to 19-9 on the season and 12-5 in the WAC.
UTSA out-hit the Aggies .233 to .159. The Roadrunners also had more kills (60-48), assists (58-45), digs (79-64) and blocks (12-7). NM State had five service aces, while UTSA had three.
McKenzie Adams led the Roadrunners with 23 kills and 18 digs. Brandy Huskey also posted a double-double of 47 assists and 14 digs. Annie Kunes had a match-high 20 digs, while Brittney Malloy posted eight blocks.
Lauren Loerch led NM State with 15 kills, followed by Desiree Scott with 14.
Idaho 3, UT Arlington 1
The Vandals beat UT Arlington 3-1 (23-25, 25-14, 30-28, 25-17) in WAC play on Sathurday night. With the win, Idaho improves to 14-13 on the season and 12-5 in the WAC. UT Arlington falls to 8-19 this year and 4-13 in WAC play.
The Vandals out-hit UTA .277 to .136 and owned an 18.5-10.0 advantage in blocks. UTA had a slim edge in kills (59-58) digs (62-61) and aces (5-3).
Alex Sele led the way for Idaho, finishing with 13 kills on .565 hitting while adding nine blocks. Allison (Walker) Baker had 14 kills, 18 digs and eight blocks, tallying her 19th double-double of the season. Alyssa Schultz had 13 kills on .440 hitting and six blocks.
Charmaine Whitmore led UTA with 17 kills and eight blocks.
Denver 3, Texas State 2
In a highly-contested match, Denver edged Texas State in five sets (24-26, 25-20, 19-25, 25-23, 16-14) in WAC action Saturday. With the win, the Pioneers improve to 16-12 on the season and 9-8 in the WAC. The Bobcats fall to 14-14 on the year and 9-8 in WAC play.
The Bobcats out-hit Denver .298 to .263 and had more assists (68-64), service aces (3-2) and digs (82-77). DU edged Texas State in kills (72-70) and blocks (11-7).
Colleen King led the Pioneers with 21 kills, while Faimie Kingsley added 16 kills and six blocks. Frances Carroll posted a double-double of 53 assists and 10 digs.
Texas State was led by Alexandra Simms with 22 kills. Amari Deardorff added 18 kills, seven digs and five blocks. Caleigh McCorquodale posted a double-double of 42 assists and 14 digs.
Seattle U 3, Louisiana Tech 2
In yet another five-set thriller Saturday night at the Connolly Center, Seattle U held off Louisiana Tech for a 3-2 victory (25-23, 25-17, 23-25, 21-25, 15-10). With the win, the Redhawks improve to 9-18 overall and 4-13 in the WAC. LA Tech falls to 3-26 on the season and 0-17 in WAC play.
Seattle U out-hit LA Tech .193 to .171. The Lady Techsters edged the Redhawks in kills (61-57), assists (56-52) and blocks (11-7). Seattle U had 11 service aces and both teams had seven blocks.
Kaytlyn Dill paced the Redhawks with 20 kills, three service aces and seven digs. Karli Pedone added 11 kills, while Jacquie Brice notched her seventh double-double of the season with 46 assists and 11 digs, plus she led the team with four service aces.
Vido led the Lady Techsters with 17 kills. Caitlin Germany finished with 12 kills and six blocks, while Maria Coelho accumulated 51 assists and libero Stephany Salas led all players with 26 digs.
With UT Arlington's 3-1 loss to Idaho Saturday night, the Redhawks pulled into a tie with the Mavericks for eighth place in the WAC standings with identical 4-13 league marks. A tiebreaker would favor UT Arlington, as the Mavericks defeated New Mexico State earlier this season, while Seattle U's best conference win standings-wise came against Denver, which cannot pass the Aggies in the final standings. Therefore, the Redhawks must defeat the Pioneers in Denver and Louisiana Tech must go on the road and defeat UT Arlington next Thursday for Seattle U to earn the eighth and final spot in the WAC Tournament.