USAFA, Colo.—The Spartan volleyball team needed lots of points in the third set as San José State swept Air Force, 3-0, Thursday night in a Mountain West match at Cadet East Gym.
Tabea Schwarz had a career night in the win as she led all hitters with a career-best 12 kills and added a career-high 14 digs for her first collegiate double-double. She also had a block, an ace and an assist in the win.
Thaliana Grajeda led the team in hitting at .429. She had 11 kills on 21 attempts and only two errors and added three blocks and two digs.
Fernanda Vido hit .423 from the outside with 11 kills on 26 attempts and no errors. She had seven digs and two blocks for SJSU.
Ryann Thomison led the team in blocks for the 11th time this season with six total, one solo and five assists. Haylee Nelson added four block assists and had seven kills in the match.
Sarah Smevog led the team with 16 digs. Mamie Garard had 21 assists and seven digs, while Kaitlynn Zdroik added 19 assists and five digs.
Set 1 – The Spartans jumped out to an early lead and were not challenged for much of the set. The team led 21-11, but Air Force did not give up and scored 13 of the next 16 points to tie the set at 24-24. A Schwarz kill and Falcon hitting error gave SJSU the 26-24 win.
Set 2 – San José State jumped out to an early 6-0 lead and never looked back in the 25-13 win. The team hit .360 for the set.
Set 3 – The Spartans won on the eighth match point at 35-33, the highest scoring set of the season for SJSU. Grajeda put down her 11th kill of the night for the win.
The win gives San José State a three-match winning streak and more importantly the team's first road win since September 19.
The Spartans are idle this Saturday before returning to the road next week for the final two road matches of 2019. The team plays at New Mexico next Thursday and at UNLV next Saturday.
San José State def. Air Force 3-0 (26-25, 25-13, 35-33).
Kills – SJSU – Tabea Schwarz 12; AF – Denise Ssozi 10.
Records – San José State 10-15, 5-9; Air Force 8-17, 5-8.
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