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Boise State volleyball
sweeps Fresno but loses to Nevada
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Boise State swept Fresno State in three Thursday night and lost
in a gruesome five game match against Nevada Saturday afternoon.
The Broncos are 15-6 on the season and 4-3 in conference play. The
Fresno State Bulldogs are now 2-4 in conference play and have
evened their overall season record to 9-9. The Wolfpack of Nevada
are now 11-6 overall and are 4-2 in conference play.
Cameron Flunder and Heather Malaschak led the Broncos in the game
against Fresno Thursday night. Flunder had 15 kills and two blocks.
Malaschack had four blocks and 11 kills. Jamie Claussen contributed
eight kills and two blocks. Christina Melvin had 40 assists, three
blocks and five kills. Jackie Stroud and Telia Peterson came up big
for the Broncos on defense. Stroud had nine defensive digs and
Peterson had eight defensive digs and two blocks. Kim Fenneman
contributed seven kills.
In game one Malaschak presented a solid blocking force the Fresno
could not get past. Tuli Peterson of Fresno tried to get the
momentum going for the Bulldogs but hit one out of bounds. The
Bulldogs were able to focus and play aggressively, getting within
four points of the Broncos but were unable to jump ahead and take
the lead. Fenneman drove the ball in for a kill to close out game
one for the Broncos 30-23.
The Bulldogs came out attacking in game two. The Broncos were
giving up points from small errors. The Bulldogs took advantage of
the Bronco mistakes to dominate play in game two. The Broncos
forced a Fresno timeout with a 6-1 run. Melvin drove a ball to the
backcourt to tie the game. A server error by Fresno gave the
Broncos a chance to close out game two. The Broncos played from
behind for the majority of the game and were able to close out game
two 30-28.
Flunder’s stellar performance led the Broncos to a 30-22 game
three victory to close out the match. “We played slower in
the beginning of the match but picked it up at the end,” said
Flunder. The Broncos focused on scoring two for ones in the last
segments of each game to close out the match. “You have to
play clean. Fresno is a young team and we took the air out of them
in game three,” said Head Coach Scott Sandel. The Broncos
tallied 7.5 total team blocks, 50 kills, 43 assists and 37 digs.
The Bulldogs totaled eight team blocks, 41 kills, 37 assists and 47
digs.
Saturday’s match against Nevada could only be summed up as
thrilling. In game one the Broncos took control of the match.
Malaschak had seven kills and Claussen put up five kills. The
Broncos totaled 21 kills in game one. The Wolfpack totaled 12 team
kills and only 1.5 team blocks. The Broncos dominated play and
closed game one out 30-18.
Game two was all Wolfpack. Both teams put up15 total team kills.
The solid blocking presence of the Wolfpack defense controlled the
momentum of the game. The Wolfpack closed out game two 30-20 with
three total team blocks.
The Broncos came out vibrant in game three. The Broncos led for
most of the match but allowed Salaia Salave’a of Nevada to
control the momentum with hard attacks to the outside corners. The
Wolfpack rallied to pull within five and were able to close out
game three 30-26.
took balls in the face and dove to the floor to make crucial saves.
Nevada’s Lacrosse team chanted “Wolfpack” as
Broncos fans roared “Boise…State” across Bronco
gym. The match was neck and neck. With quick reaction time and
solid team blocking the Broncos were able to close out game four
30-22.
The Wolfpack and the Broncos were tied 2-2 heading into game five.
The Broncos put up the first two points. Fenneman and Flunder
attacked the ball hard for the Broncos. Both teams played tight at
the net with solid blocking on both sides. The Broncos held the
lead until game point. The Broncos struggled to close out game five
as the Wolfpack made some clever offensive plays to take control.
The Wolfpack closed out the match with a game five 17-15 victory.
Coach Sandel commented that the team played hard but gave up
dominating leads and were unable to close out the games. The
Broncos totaled eight team blocks, 78 kills, 71 assists and 46
digs. The Wolfpack tallied 15.5 total team blocks, 69 kills, 60
assists and 35 digs.
The Broncos have a few days to refocus before their next set of
matches. They will hit the road this week with a match against
Eastern Washington on Thursday night and another road match against
the University of Texas El Paso on Saturday night. The Broncos
return home Oct. 29-30 to host Hawaii and San Jose State.
Amber Fuger
Sports Writer
