Broncos Lose Five Set Heartbreaker at UNLV

Friday, February 26

Las Vegas, Nev.

7:30 p.m. MT

Boise State

6-1,6-1Mountain West

UNLV

5-0,5-0Mountain West

Boise St.

UNLV

Photo by: Boise State University

2/26/2021 11:11:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Boise State rallied from two sets down only to lose 15-13 in the fifth set.

By: Courtesy: Boise State Athletics

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Boise State volleyball rallied from two sets down to force it to five before falling 3-2 Friday night at UNLV. The loss is the first of the season for the Broncos who moved to 6-1 overall with a rematch against 5-0 UNLV on tap for Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The Broncos fall to UNLV in 5 sets.

25-17, 25-18, 24-26, 27-29, 15-13

Tomorrow's match against the Rebels is at 7:30 PM MT.#BleedBlue pic.twitter.com/rsGULIktG2
— Boise State VB (@BroncoSportsVB) February 27, 2021

"I thought we got off to a really slow start while UNLV played with great energy and jumped on us the first couple of sets," said head coach Shawn Garus. "I'm really proud of how the team battled back in the third and fourth sets, which were really close, to get it into a fifth set when it was really anybody's game. It's a bummer to lose, but overall, I'm proud of the effort of our young team. I hope that we will respond and be a little better from the start tomorrow."

Boise State started the night slow versus a fired up UNLV Rebel team dropping the first two sets relatively easily by an average of 7.5 points, before regrouping to take the next two periods in extra points and force the match into the decisive fifth set. The Broncos and Rebels saw 11 ties and five lead changes during the fifth set alone before UNLV put it away to win the match 25-17, 25-18, 24-26, 27-29, 15-13.

Overall, in the final three sets there were 36 ties and 21 lead changes as the top two teams in the Mountain West battled it out. On the night, Boise State was held to a season-low 19.4 percent hitting for 54 kills on 52 assists with two service aces, 63 digs and a season-high 16 blocks. UNLV countered by hitting 26.9 percent for 76 kills on 70 assists to go with two service aces, 79 digs and seven blocks.

Lauren Ohlinger led the Broncos for the fifth time this season in kills with 12 to go with 10 digs to record her fourth double-double of the season.

Jessica Donahue and Kayly Pau each added nine kills, while Donahue had seven block assists to Pau's two. Alyssa Wissinger tallied eight kills along with a team and season-high eight block assists. Shae Duffy contribute eight kills and six blocks to the Bronco effort.

Danielle Boss distributed 41 assists to go with six kills, one service ace, 13 digs and six block assists, she had her fourth double-double of the year on assists and digs.

Jordi Holdaway had a team-high 14 digs in the back followed by Boss and Allison Casillias with 13 each.