Broncos Open Mountain West Play Versus Utah State and Air Force

WEEK FIVE

Match 12: Boise State at Utah State | Sept. 23 | 7 p.m. (Mountain) | Live Stats | MW Network
Match 13: Air Force at Boise State | Sept. 28 | 2 p.m. (Mountain) | Live Stats | MW Network
Boise State Notes | Season Stats | Roster | Twitter | Facebook

THIS WEEK

● WHAT'S HAPPENING: Boise State (8-3) opens Mountain West Conference play this week with a split schedule playing at Utah State before hosting Air Force ... this will be the only time this year that the Broncos play these two teams.
● TUESDAY: Boise State will travel to Logan, Utah, for the MW opener Tuesday night at 7 p.m. (MT) against Utah State (0-12) in the Wayne Estes Center.
● SATURDAY: The Broncos will then return home to host Air Force (3-9) at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Bronco Gym.
● PARKING: Saturday's free parking will be in the Albertsons Stadium Parking lots.
● 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

BRONCOS IN CONFERENCE OPENERS
● MW OPENERS: The Broncos are 3-5 in MW openers in the first eight years, 1-4 on the road and 2-1 at home.
● IN 2018: Boise State lost 3-0 at UNLV.
● ON THE ROAD: Boise State has played 12 of its last 15 conference openers on the road.
● HISTORICALLY: Since the 1980 season Boise State has been on the road more often than not to start conference play by a 28 to 11 margin ... during that time span the Broncos are 26-13 in conference openers, 10-2 at home and 16-11 on the road.

BRONCOS COMING OFF BOISE STATE CLASSIC CHAMPIONSHIP
● Boise State enters the weekend coming off a home sweep last week with victories over Idaho State and UC Irvine by 3-0 scores to win the Boise State Classic title.
● Those were the first two home matches of the season for the Broncos.
● Lauren Ohlinger was named tournament MVP, while Janell Walley, Jessica Donahue and Danielle Boss were named to all-tournament team.

BOISE STATE CLOSES SOLID NONCONFERENCE SLATE AT 8-3
● The young Boise State squad completed the nonconference portion of their schedule at 8-3 overall.
● KEY WINS: The Broncos recorded big wins over Saint Mary's (3-2) and Northern Iowa (3-0) in neutral site contests.
● KEY LOSES: The Blue and Orange's three loses came to teams that were ranked in the top-21 nationally at the time of the match: at No. 9 BYU (3-0), vs. No. 16 Marquette (3-0) in Provo, Utah, and at No. 21 Missouri (3-0).
● ROAD WARRIORS: The Broncos spent the first three weeks of the season on the road where they went 1-2 in true away matches and 5-1 on neutral floors.

CHANGING LINEUPS
● To date, 12 different Broncos have earned at least one start (not including libero) in the first 11 contests.
● At this time only Janell Walley, Lauren Ohlinger and Danielle Boss have started every match.

WALLEY LEADS THE BRONCOS
● After 11 matches, Janell Walley has led the Broncos to its early success hitting a team-best 38.7 percent ... she has hit 40 percent or better in five matches to date and above 30 percent in seven.
● She has tallied a team-high 141 kills, 10 service aces, four block solos and 35 block assists for a team-high 172.5 points on the year.
● Walley ranks third in the MW for hitting percentage (.387), second in kills per set (3.71), ninth in blocks per set (1.03) and second in points per set (4.54).
● She had recorded seven-straight matches in double-figure kills until the Missouri match (Sept. 15) ... she now has eight 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 four double-doubles on the year for a team-high 12 in her career.

DUFFY COMING ON STRONG
● Shae Duffy has the second most matches this season with double-digit kills with five.
● She hit a career-high 15 in the win over Middle Tennessee (Sept. 6).
● On the year she has a team-third-best 102 kills (2.68 kps) to go with 16 blocks.

BOSS DOUBLING UP
● Sophomore setter Danielle Boss had an active streak of five double-doubles (assists/digs) Aug. 31 thru Sept. 13, all Broncos wins ... that is her total on the year.
● On the year she has 399 assists and 101 digs (2.66 dps) ... she ranks second in the MW for assists per set (10.5).

THE BLUE WALL
● The Broncos are ranked 18th nationally and second in the Mountain West for blocks per set at 2.71.
● On the year, four Broncos have recorded 20 or more blocks each led by Jessica Donahue (44) followed by Janell Walley (39), Alyssa Wissinger (33) and Danielle Boss (23).
● In all, seven Broncos have recorded double-digit blocks on the year: Donahue (44), Walley (39), Wissinger (33), Danielle Boss (23), Lauren Ohlinger (16), Shae Duffy (14) and Olivia Bradley (12).
● Last year, Jessica Donahue led the Broncos with 135 blocks to rank 14th in a season all-time at Boise State.

MATCH PREVIEWS

UTAH STATE PREVIEW
● Boise State will meet Utah State for the 34th time this Tuesday at Logan, Utah, at 7 p.m. (MT).
● The Aggies are 0-12 entering the conference play and coming off loses to Utah Valley and Weber State.
● USU was picked to place 10th out of 11 teams in the MW coaches poll.
● Boise State is 25-18 all-time versus Utah State and 8-4 in MW plays
● The Broncos and Aggies are former conference rivals in the Big West and Western Athletic Conferences.

AIR FORCE PREVIEW
● The Broncos will return home to host the Air Force Falcons at 2 p.m. Saturday in Bronco Gym.
● The Falcons enter the week at 3-9 overall and are coming off a 1-2 weekend at home where they collected a 3-1 win over Denver and a pair of 3-2 losses to Montana and Santa Clara.
● The Broncos are 14-4 all-time against Air Force and 13-4 in MW play.
● AFA was predicted to place ninth in the 2019 MW race out of 11 teams.