-
1 of 10
-
2 of 10
-
3 of 10
-
4 of 10
-
5 of 10
-
6 of 10
-
7 of 10
-
8 of 10
-
9 of 10
-
10 of 10
Volleyball opens season 3-4
Archive
Comments
Story
Head Volleyball Coach Robin Davis feels the Boise State volleyball program is off to a good start. Having only played one home game, the Broncos are 3-4 on the season so far. Other than their opening home victory last week against Idaho State, BSU has already traveled to tournaments hosted by Texas Christian and Washington State. Both occasions subjected the team to offensive and defensive forces not to be taken lightly.
“I think we’re in great position with what we’ve done,” Davis said. “We’ve beaten some middle-of-the-road teams.”
Davis sees good progress developing on preseason goals. However, one thing he did not expect was difficulties with a lineup.
“We haven’t had the same starting lineup for more than two days and that wasn’t our intent,” Davis said. “We were hoping to have the starting lineup after the first week, after the two-a-days. We’ve had kids with injuries and kids sick. We still need to solidify a lineup.”
Accompanying the win over ISU, other victories for the Broncos thus far have included Loyola (Maryland) and University of Cal-Davis. Coach Davis feels the Broncos are able to compete at the same level as any of the competition they have experienced so far this season.
“We think we’ve been in it with all of them and none of those (losses) were at home,” Davis said. “We’re growing as a team. It’s all still new.”
As for the tournament at Washington State this past weekend, BSU left with one win and two losses. Each match only lasted three games. However, the Broncos amassed 121 kills, 109 assists, 12 aces, 167 digs and 24 blocks in the 3-match weekend. Defensively the Broncos looked great for the tournament, especially against UC Davis when BSU tallied 56 digs and 16 blocks.
“We played UC Davis and just played average and beat them pretty easily,” Coach Davis said. “We had our strongest blocking game against UC Davis.”
The Broncos defeated the Aggies in three games to start the tournament.
Next, they faced a strong Washington State team. All three games of the match were close. However, BSU fell short each time. Coach Davis and the Broncos were still not discouraged.
“We played Washington State and we felt like we played really well, our strongest game for sure,” Davis said. “We made a really good effort for play.”
The last game of the weekend was against UNLV. The Broncos had a harder time against the Rebels and lost in three once again. Davis felt the Rebels were a good ball-control team and handled serves from the Bronco side of the net better than other teams had.
“The last match was maybe not our best match but we served it well anyway,” Davis said. “They’re an established team; the coach has been there a few years. Those teams are right in our class.”
A highlight of the weekend came with senior libero Jackie Stroud being named to the all-tournament team. Stroud led the defense for the Broncos with an amazing 56 digs on the weekend.
“Jackie stood out because she had over five digs a game,” Davis said. “We’re hoping she could average 5.5 which would put her in the all-American class I think.
She’s played against some really tough teams.”
As for health, the Broncos are only awaiting the full recovery of sophomore Robyn Hewitt who is coming back from a cut on her foot that had been stitched up.
“We’ll get (Hewitt) back for this weekend,” Coach Davis said. “Her and Elise (Ardron) are our two biggest middles. It will be nice to have her back. That should put us at full strength.”
The Broncos play next this weekend at the NAU Tournament in Flagstaff, Ariz. where they will face Florida International, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Northern Arizona.
BRIAN LUPTAK
Sports Writer
