Broncos Beat San Diego State in Five-Set Classic

Thursday, October 24

Boise, Idaho

6 p.m. MT

Boise State

San Diego State

Paige Bartsch tipping the ball over the defense during the home Air Force match in 2024.

10/24/2024 10:22:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Courtesy: Boise State Athletics

BOISE, Idaho – Boise State volleyball won a hard-fought match Thursday night in Bronco Gym, rallying past San Diego State in the fifth set to win 26-24, 22-25, 25-22, 23-25, 17-15. All five sets went down to the wire, with the Broncos having the last decisive run of the night to clinch the victory.

Trailing 12-9 in the fifth set, Boise State rallied with a 4-1 run tying it at 13-13. The Blue and Orange then fought off two San Diego State match points before closing it out with a 3-0 run for the set at 17-15 and the match 3-2.

The match was tight throughout, featuring a combined 34 tie scores and 11 lead changes during the five-set marathon that lasted nearly three hours. None of the sets were decided by more than three points, with the first and fifth going to extra points.

The Broncos outhit San Diego State .217 to .191 percent but trailed in kills 69 to 62. However, Boise State – ranked 11th nationally for total service aces and fifth for aces per set – received a big boost from its serving, recording a season-high-tying 13 to SDSU's four. It also had an advantage at the net with a season-high 17 blocks to the Aztecs' nine.

With the win, Boise State improved to 13-7 overall and 5-4 in the conference, while San Diego State moved to 14-6 and 6-4, respectively.

TOP BRONCOS

Paige Bartsch was solid once again, recording her eighth double-double of the year on a team-high 23 kills and 19 digs, to go with one ace, four block assists, and 26 points.
Layla Smith hit a career-best .600 percent for a career-high nine kills and matched her career-high for blocks with eight, finishing with a career-high 13 points.
Annie Kaminski matched Smith's block total with eight of her own and added seven kills.
Kiersten Van Kirk was the only other Broncos to reach double-digit kills, finishing with 10 and four blocks.
Kiki Remensperger turned a double-double on a team-high (tied) 27 assists and 21 digs with eight kills, two service aces, two block assists and 11 points.

NOTABLES

Elle Cotton had a career-high five service aces, giving her 29 this year.
Paige Bartsch had a season-high 23 kills and a career-high 19 digs.
Bartsch's 75th career double-digit kills match tied her for third most during the Rally Scoring Era at Boise State.
Bartsch's 26 points moved her into third all-time on the career points list with 1,637. She also moved into third place all-time for career kills with 1,376, passing Lauren Ohlinger (2019-22), who had 1,358.
Lilli Etter recorded a career-high 27 assists, matching Remensperger's match total.
Kiki Remensperger's 27 assists and 21 digs mark the second time this season – the other was at Wyoming (Oct. 12) – that she has recorded the rare 20-20 double-double in assists and digs, it is also only the third time it has been accomplished at Boise State during the Rally Scoring Era (since 2001).
The Broncos' win in the season's lone meeting with the Aztecs tied the all-time series at 12-12.

QUOTABLES

Shawn Garus, head coach

"I thought the effort to come out strong in set one was critical tonight. That showed some toughness after the tough loss on Saturday. I was really happy the team bounced back and played hard."
"I thought both teams played inspired tonight, especially late in all the sets. Both teams played at a high level, and we were really fortunate that we were able to score some points down the stretch to win it."
"I think that the things that we needed to get better at, our blocking and our defense were really good tonight. We made some service errors, which is unfortunate, but when you're aggressive, it's going to happen. We stepped up and played defense in tough situations, something that we haven't done in previous matches, so I'm really proud of our defensive effort tonight, across the board."