Broncos Close Homestand with Nevada and San Jose State

WEEK SIX

Blue Out: All fans in attendance wear blue to support the Broncos and receive $3 admission!
Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night: Present your Boise State ID card and receive free admission to the match. Family of faculty and staff will receive $3 admission.
Boise Public Schools Drive: Donate a pair of socks, undergarments, or hygiene items for free admission to aid children of the Boise Public School District.
Parking: Albertsons Stadium lots

White Out: All fans in attendance wear white to support the Broncos and receive $3 admission!
Volleyball Youth Club Day: Local volleyball teams, 12 and younger, are invited to attend this match free of charge. Wear your club jersey for free admission.
Boise Public Schools Drive: Donate a pair of socks, undergarments, or hygiene items for free admission to aid children of the Boise Public School District.
Parking: Albertsons Stadium lots

Follow the Broncos

Boise State Notes | Season Stats | Roster | Twitter | Facebook

THIS WEEK

● WHAT'S HAPPENING: Boise State (10-3, 2-0 MW) continues a three-match homestand in Mountain West Conference play this week versus Nevada on Thursday and San Jose State on Saturday.
● THURSDAY: Boise State will host the Nevada Wolf Pack (11-3, 1-1 MW) Thursday night at 7 p.m. (MT) in Bronco Gym in what will be the first encounter between the teams this season. The Broncos swept both matches in 2018.
● SATURDAY: The Blue and Orange will host the San Jose State Spartans (5-8, 0-2 MW) at 2 p.m. Saturday afternoon in Bronco Gym. The Spartans won both meetings with the Broncos last year.
● LIVE STREAM: The MW Network will carry all conference matches during the season ... links to the live stream can be found on the volleyball schedule page at BroncoSports.com.
● LIVE STATS: You can follow the live stats of each match this weekend by using the links on the volleyball schedule page at BroncoSports.com.

BOISE STATE STORYLINES

WALLEY AND DONAHUE SWEEP MW WEEKLY HONORS
● Boise State's Janell Walley and Jessica Donahue swept this week's Mountain West Player of the Week honors for matches played Sept. 23-29.
● The Broncos opened MW play with a sweep winning at Utah State (3-0) and at home versus Air Force (3-1).
● Walley was named the offensive player of the week after hitting 52.7 percent for 32 kills, she averaged 4.57 kills, 1.14 blocks and a 5.14 points per set.
● Donahue was named the defensive player of the week after recording a team-high 16 blocks on the week — eight in both matches — to average 2.29 blocks per set.

BRONCOS COMING OFF WEEKEND SWEEP TO OPEN MW PLAY
● Boise State enters the weekend coming off a sweep in week one of conference play defeating Utah State 3-0 in Logan, then returning home to beat Air Force 3-1.
● Janell Walley led the team in both contests hitting 50 percent or better in each and tallying team-highs in kills with 18 and 14, respectively.
● Jessica Donahue recorded a team-high eight kills in both matches and hit 39.4 percent on the week with 16 kills.

BOISE STATE'S RECORD
● Boise State enters week six of the season at 10-3 overall and 2-0 in MW play.
● The Broncos have won four straight contests and 10 of their last 11.
● Boise State's three loses to date have come against teams ranked in the top-21 at the time of the match: at No. 9 BYU, vs. No. 16 Marquette in Provo, Utah, and at No. 21 Missouri.
● In the 10 matches that the Broncos have won, they have dropped a combined six sets ... of those six sets, four went to extra points.

WALLEY LEADS THE BRONCOS
● After 11 matches, Janell Walley has led the Broncos to its early success hitting a team-best 40.9 percent, which would be a school record if the season was over ... she has hit 40 percent or better in seven matches to date and above 30 percent in nine of 13.
● She has tallied a team-high 173 kills, 10 service aces, four block solos and 43 block assists for a team-high 208.5 points on the year.
● Walley leads the MW for hitting percentage (.409), ranks third in kills per set (3.69), ninth in blocks per set (1.05) and second in points per set (4.5).
● She had recorded seven-straight matches in double-figure kills until the Missouri match (Sept. 15) ... she now has 10 on the year.
● Walley tied her career-high for kills against Middle Tennessee (Sept. 6) with 19 ... then broke it with 23 in the victory over Austin Peay (Sept. 13).
● She has five double-doubles on the year for a team-high 13 in her career.

OHLINGER SHINNING IN DEBUT SEASON
● True freshman Lauren Ohlinger has had a solid start to her Boise State career tied for the second most matches with double-digit kills with five.
● To date, she has the second most kills on the team with 124 for a 2.76 per set average ... she is fourth on the team in digs with 100 (2.22 dps), fifth in blocks with 21 and second in points with 151.5.
● She had a team-high 18 kills in the win over Utah Valley (Aug. 31) ... her career-high of 19 kills led Boise State in the win over Idaho State (Sept. 19).
● Ohlinger enters the week as one of three Broncos who has recorded a double-double on the season with four.

DONAHUE ANCHORING THE BLUE WALL
● Last year, Jessica Donahue led the Broncos with 135 blocks to rank 14th in a season all-time at Boise State.
● In 2019 she leads once again with 60 entering the week.
● She recorded a total of 16 blocks last week in wins over Utah State and Air Force with a season-high eight in each contest.
● Ranks fifth in the MW for total blocks with 60, but is second in blocks per set at 1.4.

THE BLUE WALL
● The Broncos are ranked 11th nationally and second in the Mountain West for blocks per set at 2.8.
● On the year, five Broncos have recorded 20 or more blocks each led by Jessica Donahue (60) followed by Janell Walley (47), Alyssa Wissinger (35), Danielle Boss (29) and Lauren Ohlinger (21).

DEFENSIVELY SPEAKING
● The Broncos are ranked 11th nationally and second in the Mountain West for blocks per set at 2.8 and are third in digs per set at 14.62.
● They rank fourth in the MW for opponents' hitting percentage at .176
● The Broncos have held six of the last seven opponents to below 16 percent hitting, they have won all six.
● On the year they are 8-1 when holding opponents below 20 percent hitting, 8-1 when leading in blocks and 10-1 with more digs than the opposition.

HEAD COACH NOTES

HEAD COACH SHAWN GARUS
● Coach Garus entered his 11th season at Boise State and 19th overall just 14 wins shy of 300 career wins at 286 ... he is now four short at 296.
● Garus is 296-254 overall in his 19th year as a collegiate head coach.
● He is currently 188-135 at Boise State in his 11th season.

MATCH PREVIEWS

NEVADA PREVIEW
● Boise State will host Nevada on Thursday at 7 p.m. (MT) in Bronco Gym.
● The Wolf Pack are 11-3 overall and 1-1 in MW play entering the week ... they split last week to open conference falling at Fresno State (3-0), then beat San Diego State (3-1) in Reno.
● Nevada possesses one of the top offenses in the league averaging 13.17 kills and 1.49 service aces per set.
● Nevada was picked to place 11th out of 11 teams in the MW coaches poll.
● Boise State is 32-27 all-time versus the Wolf Pack and 12-1 in MW matches.
● The Wolf Pack are the Broncos oldest rival in the MW dating back to their days in the Big Sky, Big West and Western Athletic Conferences.

SAN JOSE STATE PREVIEW
● The Broncos will close the three-match homestand Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. in Bronco Gym against the San Jose State Spartans.
● The Spartans enter the week at 5-8 overall and are 0-2 in league play after falling at San Diego State (3-2), then Fresno State (3-0) at home last week.
● The Broncos are 17-18 all-time against San Jose State and 8-2 in MW play.
● SJSU was predicted to place sixth in the 2019 MW race out of 11 teams.