Broncos Hit the Road for Third Straight Week, Travel to Mizzou Invite

MIZZOU INVITATIONAL

Columbia, Mo. | CoMo / Hearnes Center
Sept. 13-15 (Friday-Sunday)

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Match 7: Boise State vs. Austin Peay | Sept. 13 | 4 p.m. (Mountain) | Live Stats
Match 8: Boise State vs. UNI | Sept. 14 | 11 a.m. (Mountain) | Live Stats
Match 9: Boise State at No. 21 Missouri | Sept. 15 | 11 a.m. (Mountain) | Live Stats | SECN+
Boise State Notes | Season Stats | Roster | Twitter | Facebook

THIS WEEK

● TOURNAMENT: This week the Broncos (4-2) are on the road for the third-straight week as they head to the Mizzou Invitational at Columbia, Mo.
● THE FIELD: Boise State will face Austin Peay of the Ohio Valley Conference, Northern Iowa (UNI) of the Missouri Valley Conference and their host 21st-ranked Missouri from the Southeastern Conference.
● VERSUS THE FIELD: Boise State is a combined 2-3 all-time versus the three schools: Austin Peay (0-0), UNI (1-1) and Missouri (1-2).
● FRIDAY SCHEDULE: Boise State will open against the Austin Peay Governors (1-5) at 4 p.m. (Mountain).
● SATURDAY SCHEDULE: On Saturday, the Broncos will face the MVC powerhouse UNI Panthers (2-4) at 11 a.m. (MT).
● SUNDAY SCHEDULE: The Blue and Orange will close the weekend on Sunday against the No. 21 Missouri Tigers (4-0).
● FACILITY: All matches this weekend will be played at the CoMo/Hearnes Center on the Missouri campus.
● LIVE STREAM: Of the three Boise State contests this weekend, only the one against Missouri on Sunday will be live streamed, on SECN+ by ESPN.
● LIVE STATS: You can follow the live stats of each match by going to the links on the volleyball schedule page at BroncoSports.com.

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 10 short.
● Garus is 290-253 overall in his 19th year as a collegiate head coach.
● He is currently 182-134 at Boise State in his 11th season.
● At Boise State, Garus is a two-time MW Coach of the Year (2015, 2016), as well as the 2016 AVCA Region Coach of the Year.
● Garus ranks second in total wins in program history, out of 10 coaches all-time.
● He has recorded eight winning seasons overall, including an active streak of five straight.
● His Boise State teams have recorded three seasons (2010, 2015, 2016) with 20-plus wins.

BOISE STATE STORYLINES

BRONCOS RALLY FROM TWO DOWN
● When Boise State rallied from two sets down against Saint Mary's on Friday, Sept. 6, it marked the first time in 22 matches — dating back to October 2015 — that they won after trailing by two.

WALLEY NAMED MVP, DUFFY MAKES ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
● Janell Walley was named the MVP of the Thunderbird Classic (9/6-7/2019) after hitting a team-best 48.9 percent on the weekend with team-highs for kills (53), blocks (14) and points (65.0) ... this makes two-straight all-tournament team honors for the senior.
● Shae Duffy was named to the all-tournament team after hitting 33.3 percent with 40 kills at Thunderbird Classic.

WALLEY NAMED MW OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
● Janell Walley was named the Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Week after leading the Broncos to the Thunderbird Classic title.

CHANGING LINEUPS
● To date, 11 different Broncos have earned at least one start (not including libero) in the first six contests.
● At this time only Janell Walley, Lauren Ohlinger and Danielle Boss have started every match.

WALLEY LEADS THE BRONCOS
● After six matches, Janell Walley has led the Broncos to its early success hitting a team-best 40.3 percent ... she hit .500, .400 and .571, respectively, in last weekend's Thunderbird Classic title run.
● She has tallied 87 kills, seven service aces, two block solos and 25 block assists for 108.5 points on the year.
● She has recorded five straight matches in double-figure kills and two double-doubles.
● Walley tied her career-high for kills against Middle Tennessee (Sept. 6).
● Double-doubles have come against No. 16 Marquette (15 kills/12 digs) and Saint Mary's (16 kills/12 digs).

DUFFY COMING ON STRONG
● Shae Duffy has the second longest active streak in recording double-digit kills with four, all helping the Broncos to their current four-match win streak.
● She hit a career-high 15 in the win over Middle Tennessee (Sept. 6).
● On the year she has 57 kills (2.59 kps) and six blocks.

BOSS DOUBLING UP
● Sophomore setter Danielle Boss has an active streak of double-doubles (assists/digs), resulting in four straight Broncos wins.
● During the streak, she has distributed 168 assists (10.5 aps) and the team has hit 24.9 percent.

THE BLUE WALL
● The Broncos are ranked 39th nationally and third in the Mountain West for blocks per set at 2.5.
● Last week the Broncos recorded 29 blocks as a team for a 2.42 per set average.
● The previous week they collected 26 blocks as a team to average 2.6 per set.
● On the year, Janell Walley leads the team in blocks with 27 for a 1.23 bps average ... followed by Jessica Donahue with 22 (1.0 bps) and Alyssa Wissinger at 20 (1.25 bps).
● Walley had a team-high 14 at the Thunderbird Classic, followed by Donahue with 13.
● Redshirt-freshman Alyssa Wissinger led the charge for the Broncos with a team-high 16 at the BYU Nike Invite to open the season.
● In all, four Broncos have recorded double-digit blocks on the year: Walley (27), Donahue (22), Wissinger (20) and Danielle Boss (10).
● Last year, Jessica Donahue led the Broncos with 135 blocks to rank 14th in a season all-time at Boise State.

SIMON LOOKING FOR 1,000TH ASSIST
● Senior setter Cassedi Simon is looking for 13 assists to reach 1,000 in her career.
● She had six at Thunderbird Classic and is now seven short of 1,000.
● When Simon does get the seven, she will be the 17th Bronco to reach the milestone in program history.
● She entered the year ranked 17th all-time in career assists.

MATCH PREVIEWS

AUSTIN PEAY PREVIEW
● Boise State will meet Austin Peay for the first time in volleyball when the two play Friday at 4 p.m. (MT) in the Mizzou Invitational.
● The Governors are 1-5 entering the tournament and are coming off a 1-2 performance at the Wildcats (Northwestern Univ.) Invitational.
● Their lone win of the season to date has come against Texas Tech (3-1) last weekend in Evanston, Ill. ... among teams they have lost to are: NC State (3-0), Kansas State (3-1), Maryland (3-0) and Northwestern (3-1).
● APSU was picked to place second out of 12 teams in the Ohio Valley Conference coaches poll.
● Boise State is 4-0 all-time versus the current membership of the OVC.

NORTHERN IOWA PREVIEW
● The Broncos will face the UNI Panthers Saturday morning at 11 a.m. (MT) in the CoMo/Hearnes Center.
● The Panthers enter the weekend at 2-5 overall and are coming off a 3-1 loss at Iowa State on Tuesday.
● Last weekend UNI went 0-3 at its own UNI Tournament falling to No. 23 Creighton (3-2), No. 15 Southern Cal (3-1) and No. 12 Kentucky (3-0).
● Boise State and UNI have met twice before with the series tied at 1-1 ... the last times was in 1991 at Boise where the Panthers won 3-1.
● The Broncos are 3-2 all-time against the current membership of the Missouri Valley Conference.
● UNI was predicted to win the 2019 MVC title out of 10 teams.
● UNI did advance to the NCAA Tournament last year falling to Pepperdine in the first round ... the Panthers are the fourth of five nonconference teams that the Broncos will face this season that went to the NCAA Tournament in 2018.

MISSOURI PREVIEW
● Boise State will close out the Mizzou Invite against its host the 21st-ranked Missouri Tigers on Sunday at 11 a.m. (MT).
● The match will be televised on the SECN+.
● The Tigers enter the weekend undefeated at 4-0 overall.
● Last weekend the Tigers won the Dayton Invitational with wins over No. 14 Michigan (3-0), Dayton (3-1) and Northern Illinois (3-1).
● Missouri is second nationally in service aces (2.53) and fourth in hitting percentage (.392).
● Boise State and Mizzou have met three times previously — all since 2014 — with the Tigers leading the series 2-1 ... the last time they met was at Boise on Sept. 2, 2017 when the Broncos won 3-0.
● The Broncos are 7-7 all-time against the current membership of the Southeastern Conference.
● Missouri was picked to place fourth out of 13 teams in the 2019 SEC race.
● Mizzou will be the last nonconference opponent the Broncos will face of five that advanced to the 2018 NCAA Tournament ... they reached the second round beating Arizona (3-0), then fell to Nebraska (3-0).