San Jose, Calif—For the first time since the 2017 season, the San José State volleyball team defeated Colorado State, 3-2 (21-25, 25-13, 25-16, 22-25, 15-11), Saturday afternoon inside Spartan Gym.
For the third time in four matches, the Spartans hit above .300 as the team hit .323 and held Colorado State to just .194. SJSU recorded 71 kills in 164 attempts and only had 18 hitting errors.
Four Spartans recorded double-digit kills, led by Haylee Nelson with a season-high 22 kills. She hit .269, and recorded her seventh double-double of the season and third consecutive as she recorded 12 digs. Ryann Thomison hit .407 for the match with 11 kills on 27 attempts and no hitting errors.
Two other Spartan hitters had double-doubles. Latahevai Lousi had 19 kills and 14 digs for her fifth double-double of the year. Makayla Lewis had her second double-double of the season with 11 kills and a career-best 19 digs.
After recording just two blocks against the Rams on Friday, San José State recorded 10 blocks in the win. Lousi had four blocks, two solo and two assists, while Thomison added four blocks, one solo and three assists. Mia Schafer and Allyson Alden each had three block assists.
Sarah Smevog led the Spartan defense with 22 digs and added seven assists and an ace. Schaefer ran the Spartan offense with 58 assists and added eight digs and two aces.
"We had a whole lot of fight today, scrapped really well and didn't give up," said Spartan head coach Trent Kersten. "Those are really great traits to have as a team. We have been hitting efficiently over the past two days. Today we defended a little bit better and continued our offensive performance in executing our offensive system. It is a credit to our attackers, passers to all of our pass control people. Mia set a great match today."
Set 1 – The Spartans never led in the set and hit only .121 in the 25-21 loss.
Set 2 – San José State hit an outstanding .536 with only one hitting error. Opposite of set one, the Spartans led from the first serve with a Schaefer service ace. Nelson's final kill of the set gave the team the 25-13 win.
Set 3 – The team continued its hot hitting at .467, again with only one hitting error. The two teams battled early, but SJSU took the lead at 9-8 and never looked back. Lousi put away the final point after the ball bounced around the basketball hoop in the ceiling for a 25-16 win.
Set 4 – Colorado State won the set 25-22, scoring the final three points of the set.
Set 5 – San José State led from the first serve as Lousi put away the first point, and the Spartans won 15-11 on a Ram hitting error.
San Jose State is now 4-6 on the season and is scheduled to play at UNLV next Friday and Saturday, March 19 and 20. The Rebels did not play this weekend due to COVID issues within the program. Updates about the matches will be posted throughout the week.
San José State def. Colorado State – 3-2 (21-25, 25-13, 25-16, 22-25, 15-11).
Kills – CSU – Breana Runnels 17; SJSU – Haylee Nelson 22.
Records – Colorado State 5-5, 5-5; San José State 4-6, 4-6.
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