Broncos Down San Diego State on Senior Day

Saturday, November 23

Boise, Idaho

2:00 p.m. (MT)

Boise State

18-11,10-8MWC

San Diego State

15-14,8-10MWC

San Diego St.

Boise St.

Janell Walley, Celine Christensen and Cassedi Simon

Photo by: Patrick Sweeney

11/23/2019 6:17:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Final Box (pdf)

Boise State moves to 18-11 overall with the win and now waits until Dec. 1 to see if the postseason comes calling.

By: Courtesy: Boise State Athletics

BOISE, Idaho - Janell Walley and Lauren Ohlinger combined for 27 kills to lead Boise State to a 3-1 (25-10, 13-25, 25-21, 25-20) win on Senior Day over San Diego State in the regular season finale. Both teams hit the ball well on Saturday with Boise State hitting 35.7 percent — third-best percentage this year — while San Diego State finished at 30.1 percent. After two polar opposite sets with each team dominating one to open the match, the Broncos settled down and battled through for wins in the final two sets to claim the victory.

The win moved Boise State to 18-11 overall and 10-8 in Mountain West play to finish in fourth-place. The Broncos who are a top-100 NCAA RPI team now have a good chance of postseason play eyeing a berth into the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC), the NIT of women's volleyball, which will announce its field on Sunday, Dec. 1.

S4 (BSU 3-1) | BLOCK AND MATCH! Walley, Donahue and Wissinger get the Blue Wall up for the win 25-20 over San Diego State and 3-1 in the match!#BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/BbfZwOnkyq
— Boise State VB (@BroncoSportsVB) November 23, 2019

"It was great to get a win on Senior Day of all days, it was great with one of the seniors, Janell Walley, closing it out with the final stuff block," said head coach Shawn Garus. "All three seniors had a chance to impact the match today and I think they did a great job, contributing in their roles the way we asked. I'm just proud of where the three seniors have reached in their careers and I'm excited to see them in a new role as alumni."

Boise State opened the match with a commanding set one performance where they won by 15 points. The Broncos hit 56.2 percent in the period while holding San Diego State to a minus 7.7 percent.

However, the second was virtually the opposite with the Aztecs storming back to dominate the set to claim a 12-point win and tie the match at one win all. SDSU hit an impressive 61.5 percent in the period and held the Blue and Orange to 13.8 percent.

The third set was all Boise State early as the Broncos raced out to a 6-1 lead, only to see the Aztecs rally. San Diego State eventually took a one-point lead on four occasions, the first at 16-15 and the last coming at 19-18.

Trailing 19-18, Boise State regrouped and rolled off a 3-0 run behind kills from Ohlinger and Walley, and capped by a Danielle Boss service ace to put the Broncos up 21-19. Boise State never trailed again and put it away with a 4-1 run on three Walley kills and a Ohlinger service ace sandwiched in the middle to take it 25-21.

The fourth set was tight with the largest lead being three points until late in the period. Leading 18-16, Boise State stretched its advantage out to five on the final point when the Broncos' Blue Wall came up with Walley, Jessica Donahue and Alyssa Wissinger teaming up for the decisive block to win the set 25-20 and the match 3-1.

Ohlinger led the team hitting 32.4 percent for a team-high 16 kills to go with one assist, two service aces, five digs and one block assist to finish with a team-best 18.5 points.

Walley was the only other Bronco in double-digit kills at 11, while hitting 41.7 percent in her Senior Day match. She added eight digs and four block assists to finish with 13 points.

Wissinger hit a career-high 61.5 percent for eight kills on 13 attempts with no errors. The redshirt-freshman also had three block assists.

Donahue also hit the ball well at 47.1 percent for eight kills to go with a team-high five block assists to finish with 10.5 points.

Setter Danielle Boss led the attack by distributing 45 assists, in addition to one kill, one service ace, four digs and one block assist.

Allison Casillas had a team-high 11 digs, while senior Cassedi Simon had a team-high four service aces.

With the loss San Diego State moved to 15-14 overall and 8-10 in conference. Victoria O'Sullivan led the Aztecs with 17 kills followed by Hannah Turnlund with 15.

OTHER NOTABLES

Boise State closed the regular season on a two match win streak, including a season sweep over the Aztecs.
The Broncos are now 10-8 all-time versus San Diego State and 10-7 in MW matches.
Ohlinger finished the regular season leading the Broncos in points during each of the last 12 matches and in kills during the final 13 ... she recorded 15 contests in double-figure kills, 12 in the 18-match conference season.
Walley returned to the starting lineup at outside hitter this week after an injury in October, today she hit over 40 percent for a team-best ninth time this season and over 30 percent for the 14th time.
Donahue's five blocks against the Aztecs marked the 12th time in league play that she has had five or more blocks and the 19th on the season.
Donahue entered the week leading the MW and ranked eighth nationally for total blocks with 151, she now stands at 159 which is ranked third all-time at Boise State for a single season, 10 short of the record.
Boss' 45 assists marks the 12th time that she has had 40-plus this season ... she now has 1,070 assists on the year, which ranks 14th in program history.
This was Senior Day for Janell Walley, Cassedi Simon and Celine Christensen.