Broncos Beat Idaho State in Classic Battle

Monday, September 5

Pocatello, Idaho

2 p.m. MT

Boise State

4-1,0-0Mountain West

Idaho State

4-3,0-0Big Sky

Boise St.

Idaho St.

9/5/2022 6:19:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Boise State outlasted the Idaho State Bengals in a classic battle between instate rivals where all four sets were tight to the end.

By: Courtesy: Boise State Athletics

POCATELLO, Idaho – Boise State won a classic rivalry match 3-1 Monday afternoon over Idaho State in Pocatello. All four sets were challenged to the wire with the Broncos coming from behind in both the third and fourth sets to claim the victory 25-20, 24-26, 25-23, 26-24.

The Blue and Orange used a balanced offensive attack with four Broncos reaching double-digit kills led by sophomore Paige Bartsch's career-high 19.

The Broncos won the opening set by five – the only set that was not decided by the minimum two points – and led the entire way.

The Bengals regrouped to take the second frame 26-24, but not until the Broncos rallied to make it interesting. Trailing by a set-high four points at 24-20, Boise State rallied to tie it at 24 all before Idaho State regrouped for the win to even the match score at 1-1.

In the final two sets, the Broncos were forced to rally from five points down to beat the Bengals by two in both frames. The action included the Blue and Orange winning two challenges late in the fourth set that moved the Broncos from a tie score to a 24-22 lead and the last that clinched the match at 26-24.

QUOTABLES
Shawn Garus, Head Coach

On what the win means to your team coming off a long road trip. "The win today was a really resilient one because the travel has been crazy. Going from Boise down to California for a couple of tough matches, then getting back to Idaho, and then traveling over here (Pocatello). The team did not have a lot of rest or practice time to get ready for ISU; they just came in here and battled. I'm proud that the team found a way to fight through it and get another win."
On the balanced offense against the Bengals. "I would say that whenever you see that type of balance and distribution with the offense, you have to give the setter a lot of credit for creating opportunities for people to score in different places. I feel like ISU came out strong early in the match and kept the energy level high and didn't make it easy for us. I think it was a good performance for our team."

Lauren Ohlinger, Senior Outside Hitter

On how the team battled back today. "I think we knew that coming in that Idaho State would play their best at home and that they would come out with a lot of energy. We knew it was going to be hard and that we just needed to come together and push through it when it got tight late when the sets went into the 20's. I thought we did a good job of doing that; we had a lot of intensity and played hard."

BRONCO LEADERS

Paige Bartsch led four Broncos in double-figure kills with 19, her third-straight match in double digits…she hit .289 percent and had two service aces and one block solo to finish with a team-high 22 points.
Lauren Ohlinger recorded her second double-double of the year and 24th of her career on 17 kills and 10 digs to go with four blocks – two solos – to finish with 20 points; all were season highs.
Annie Kaminski added a career-high 11 kills with four block assists and 13 points.
Jordan Miller finished with 10 kills and two blocks; one was a solo.
Ashley Hayden led the team from the setter position distributing a career-high 46 assists as the team finished hitting .242 percent…she also earned her first career double-double adding 12 digs to her assists total.

NOTABLES

Defensively, Hayden, Allison Casillas and Dana Bravanets tied for the lead in digs with 12 each.
Jet Taylor, a graduate transfer and native of Rigby, Idaho, saw her first action in the Blue and Orange.
Key moments, two challenges won by Boise State late in the fourth set. The first was when an ISU player touched the ball at the net on a Bronco hit that was originally called out with no touch which would have made it 23-23; instead, it was 24-22. The last was when a Bengal hit was originally ruled in that would have made the score 25-25 but was overturned and called out to make it 26-24 clinching the match for the Broncos.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Broncos will be home this coming weekend when they host the Boise State Classic Friday through Saturday featuring Butler, Southern Utah and Eastern Washington.