Broncos Stampede Past the Wolf Pack

Saturday, October 7

Boise, Idaho

Noon MT

Boise State

9-7,5-1Mountain West

Nevada

4-13,0-6Mountain West

Nevada

Boise St.

10/7/2023 3:38:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Courtesy: Boise State Athletics

BOISE, Idaho – Boise State volleyball stampeded past the Nevada Wolf Pack to earn its second sweep of the weekend, defeating the Wolf Pack 3-0 (25-11, 26-24, 25-14) Saturday afternoon in Bronco Gym. The win was the seventh in the last eight contests for Boise State, who improved to 9-7 overall and 5-1 in Mountain West play to remain in a tie for first place.

The Blue and Orange controlled the first and third sets, winning by 14 and 11 points, respectively, while the second proved to be a battle. The Broncos hit .265 for the match to Nevada's .103 and had 42 kills and 12 service aces to the Wolf Pack's 30 kills and one ace.

Boise State dominated Nevada in the opening frame, winning it by 14 at 25-11. Up 16-11, the Blue and Orange closed on a 9-0 run for the victory. The Broncos hit .290 to the Wolf Pack's -.028.

Nevada regrouped in the second set, taking the Broncos to extra points before Boise State won it 26-24. The set saw nine ties and two lead changes. Paige Bartsch led the Broncos with six kills and a service ace in the frame, including two of Boise State's final two points.

The third set was close early before the Broncos pulled away using a 10-3 run to take a commanding advantage at 20-11. Anabel Kotzakov and Reagan Casey combined for the final four points to clinch the match sweep.

Quotables

"I think we just did awesome today; the energy going in was really high," said setter Noelani Helm. "I think we let that energy ride throughout the match. We tried our best in the second set to stay level-headed and dig out of it as quickly as possible. We leaned on each other when someone else was struggling, and I think we got out of it (the second set) pretty well."
"I thought we had a really good effort today," head coach Shawn Garus said. "This was a matchup that I was concerned about because Nevada's defense can get hot, and they can frustrate teams. I feel like they definitely did that to us in the second set. Then in the first and third, I thought we played really clean and that's what I want to see, us come out strong and finish even stronger.
Noelani (Helm) had a great week," said Garus. "She really had great ball distribution and balanced the offense quite well."

Top Broncos

Bartsch Paige led the Broncos with a double-double on 12 kills and 17 digs, both team highs, to go with one service and 13 points.
Noelani Helm recorded a team-high 28 assists, three kills and nine digs.
Anabel Kotzakov added nine kills, three service aces, and four block assists to finish with 14 points.
Annie Kaminski tallied 11 kills.
Bella McGirr recorded 14 digs from the libero position.
Breanna Mitchell turned in a team-high four service aces.

Notables

Bartsch led the Broncos in kills for the 16th straight time this season and recorded her sixth double-double of the season and 17th in her career.
For the first time this season, someone other than Bartsch led the Broncos in points, as Kotzakov finished with 14, one better than Bartsch.
Kotzakov had a career-high three service aces and tied her career-high for block assists with four.
Kaminski recorded her sixth match this season in double-digit kills.
Kaminski hit a season-high .647 percent, the first time a Bronco has hit above .600 (minimum of 15 attacks) since she hit .647 against San Diego State on Oct. 8, 2022.
Boise State tallied 12 service aces, giving the Broncos five contests with double-digit aces this fall…12 tied for the sixth most in a three-set match during the rally scoring era.