Up to Speed: Our weekly recap of Bronco Sports (Nov. 1-7)

Women’s volleyball sweeps New Mexico (Nov. 4)

By Matthew Valento

Boise State women’s volleyball showed out Thursday, Nov. 4, as they breezed to a 3-0 sweep over New Mexico. 

The Broncos came out on fire and never let up as they hit .514 percent, the third-best hitting performance in school history. While holding the Lobos to a negative .038 percent, the Broncos only trailed twice in the entire match.

This win marks the third straight for Boise State, putting the team at 18-8 overall and 7-6 in Mountain West Conference play, while New Mexico is now 17-7 and 8-5 in conference play. 

The Bronco offense could not be stopped, hitting at .583 percent in the first set, .385 percent in the second and .600 percent in the third. Boise State made only five hitting errors in the entire match to go with 41 kills on 70 attacks. The Lobos had 19 kills and 22 errors on 79 attacks.

Middle blockers freshman Paige Bartsch and redshirt junior Alyssa Wissinger tied for a team-high in points on the night with 11.5 apiece. Bartsch hit a career-high .750 percent, while also chipping in three block assists to her kills, while Wissinger had nine kills and a team-high five block assists.

Outside hitters junior Lauren Ohlinger and freshman Jordan Miller each had seven kills. Ohlinger also had one service ace and a block assist.

Senior setter Danielle Boss tallied 31 assists to go with three kills, one service ace, six digs and four block assists. On the defensive side, junior libero Allison Casillas recorded a team-high of 10 digs.

Kaitlyn Biassou led the Lobos with nine kills, the rest of the team did not have more than four. 

Photos by Claire Keener | The Arbiter

Women’s basketball defeats Southern Oregon in exhibition match 62-49 (Nov. 6)

By Adam Bridges

The women’s basketball team made their first appearance on the court against Southern Oregon in the ExtraMile Arena on Saturday, Nov. 6.

The game started off very one-sided in favor of Boise State. Buckets from seven different Broncos led to a score of 20-5 at the end of the first quarter.

Before the end of the first half, Boise State’s redshirt senior guard Dominique Leonidas nailed a 3-pointer to help maintain a 27-18 lead.

A 6-0 run by Southern Oregon resulted in Boise State’s lead being cut down to just 4 points early in the third quarter. 

The Broncos maintained their lead with help from a fast-break 3-pointer from freshman guard Jayda Clark with one minute left in the third quarter.

Clark landed another 3-pointer and helped the Broncos go on a 12-2 run in the middle of the fourth quarter.

The final score of the game was 62-49 in favor of the Broncos. 

Sophomore guard Mary Kay Naro led in points with 15, sophomore forward Elodie Lalotte led in rebounds with 10 and redshirt senior guard Dominique Leonidas led in assists with 5.

The Broncos play their first season game against Long Beach State in the ExtraMile Arena on Saturday, Nov. 13.

Boise State volleyball beats Air Force for their second sweep of the week (Nov. 6) 

By Ceirra Williams

Boise State women’s volleyball beat Air Force 3-0 on Nov. 6. This was the Broncos’ fourth straight win, improving them to 19-8 overall and 8-6 in Mountain West Conference.

“I’m really excited about how the team has come together and played with a lot of energy and focus this week,” said head coach Shawn Garus.

Junior outside hitter Lauren Ohlinger led the team with 15 points on 12 kills, two service aces and two block assists.

Senior setter Danielle Boss led the Broncos with 32 assists to go with two kills, nine digs and tied for a team-high in blocks finishing with six. 

Freshman outside hitter Jordan Miller had eight kills to go with two block assists.

“I thought Dani and [junior libero] Allie [Casillas] played big roles in this win tonight,” Garus said. “Dani did a great job of spreading the ball around and getting a lot of people involved in the attack, while Allie led defensively in the back row and did a good job passing. Passing is very important for us because it allows us to get into our system, the team did a great job doing that in both our wins this week.”

The Broncos finished out the night hitting .267 percent for 41 kills with 37 assists, four service aces, 42 digs and 11 blocks.

The Broncos have their final regular-season games to square off against the Nevada Wolf Pack (Nov. 11) and then head to San Jose State to play against the Spartans (Nov. 13).