Balanced Offense Leads Broncos Past Utah State in MW Championship Opener

Wednesday, November 27

Las Vegas, Nev.

5 p.m. MT

Boise State

19-10,10-6Mountain West

Utah State

15-14,12-5Mountain West

Boise St.

Utah St.

Balanced Offense Leads Broncos Past Utah State in MW Championship Opener

11/27/2024 8:26:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Courtesy: Boise State Athletics

LAS VEGAS – Pagie Bartsch, Anabel Kotzakov and Kiersten Van Kirk combined for 38 kills and 43.5 points to lead Boise State past the Utah State Aggies 3-1 (25-19, 18-25, 25-20, 25-23) in the opening round of the Mountain West Championship in Las Vegas. The win improved the Broncos to 19-10 overall on the year and advanced them into Friday's semifinal round.

Utah State scored the match's first point before the Broncos rolled out to a 10-4 lead and were never really threatened after that. The Broncos led by as many as nine before winning it 25-19 on a Lilli Etter dump over the defense.

Set two was close until midway through the period when the Aggies surged past the Broncos. Tied at 16-16, Utah State closed the set on a 9-2 run to tie the match at 1-1.

The third set was another tightly contested period, with two lead changes and eight ties. The largest lead came at the end by five following a 4-0 Boise State run, which handed the Broncos a 25-20 victory.

In set four, the Broncos led nearly the entire way, maintaining a one to four-point advantage until late. The Aggies tied the set at 21, then took the lead at 22-21 and 23-22. Boise State regrouped and rallied on a 3-0 run to claim the set 25-23 and the match 3-1.

TOP BRONCOS

Paige Bartsch led the team with 14 kills while hitting .281. She also had two service aces, one block and a team-best 16.5 points.
Anabel Kotzakov hit .237 for 13 kills to go with 11 digs, one service ace, one block and 14.5 points.
Kiersten Van Kirk hit .391 for 11 kills and had three blocks for 12.5 points.
Kiki Remensperger had a team-high 21 assists and 12 digs, while Lilli Etter had 19 assists.
Bre Mitchell had team-highs for digs with 15 and service aces with five.

NOTABLES

Paige Bartsch set the school's Rally Scoring Era (since 2001) record for career service aces with two against the Aggies, giving her 137; that also moved her into sole possession of seventh all-time.
Bartsch's 14 kills moved her to within one of tying for second on the all-time career kills list with 1,509.
Annie Kaminski's three blocks today moved her into ninth place on the all-time career blocks list with 369.
Kiki Remensperger's double-double was her 13th of the season (including two triple-doubles).
Anabel Kotzakov's double-double was the third of the year and her second-straight match with one.
The Broncos recorded 11 service aces against Utah State, giving them 228 on the year, tying for the most in a season at Boise State during the Rally Scoring Era.

QUOTABLES

Shawn Garus, head coach

"This was a great win for the program, and I am proud of our balanced offensive effort. It was a team victory today."
"I thought our serving played a big part today in every rotation, which got Utah State out of system offensively. I also think that our passing was really good, led by Bre (Mitchell), Anabel (Kotzakov) and Kiki (Remensperger)."