Broncos Edged in Four by Oklahoma

Saturday, September 2

Corvallis, Ore.

Noon MT

Boise State

2-1,0-0Mountain West

Oklahoma

4-1,0-0Big 12

Boise St.

Oklahoma

Anabel Kotzakov goes for the kill in the match against Idaho State, august 25, 2023.

9/2/2023 3:50:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Courtesy: Boise State Athletics

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Boise State's volleyball team came up short against the Oklahoma Sooners in a tightly contested four-set match, falling 3-1 (29-27, 25-22, 21-25, 25-21) at the Asics Invitational at Corvallis, Ore., Saturday afternoon. Boise State moved to 2-1 on the year with the loss, while Oklahoma moved to 4-1.

The match was tight throughout, especially the first set, which went to extra points before the Sooners pulled it out 29-27. The largest lead was three points – once by each team – as the two teams traded five lead changes and were tied 19 times.

Set two was just like the first, close throughout with eight lead changes and 13 ties. Boise State led a majority of the way and by three points on two occasions early. Up 22-20, Boise State was unable to put it away as the Sooners rallied to take it 25-22.

Boise State rallied to take the third set by four points, 25-21, in another tight set featuring five lead changes and 13 ties. Bella McGirr clinched the win with a service ace.

The fourth set saw the Blue and Orange jump out to a quick lead and held a four-point lead at 12-8. However, the Sooners rallied, taking the lead for good at 16-15, then closed it out for a four-point win, 25-21.

Top Broncos

Paige Bartsch just missed her third match with 20-plus kills, finishing with a team-high 19. She also added two service aces and a block solo to tally a team-best 22 points.
Anabel Kotzakov – a freshman – turned in her best performance of the young season, tallying 14 kills while hitting .583 percent; she had 14 kills and no errors on 24 attacks.
Breanna Mitchell had a team-high 15 digs to go with three service aces.

Quotes

"It was a really close match today that could have gone either way," said Boise State Head Coach Shawn Garus. "Oklahoma served tough down the stretch, which gave us trouble."
"I thought that Anabel (Kotzakov) was great on the outside. She was aggressive and scored at critical times for the team. Elle (Cotton) was big in the third set when she went on some nice serving runs, leading to us winning the set."

Notables

Elle Cotton had a team-high and a career-tying four service aces.
Boise State recorded a season-high 13 service aces, tying for second most for a four-set match during the rally scoring era (2001-present).
Bartsch recorded her third straight match with double-digit kills, the 33rd of her career.
The loss moved the Broncos' all-time series record versus the Sooners to 0-2.