SAN JOSE, Calif.—Madeline Boerstra and Haylee Nelson combined for 42 kills Saturday night as the San José State volleyball team fought off three match points to force a fifth set and win 3-2 over the visiting Fresno State Bulldogs inside Spartan Gym.
Hear from winning coach @trentkersten #SpartanUp pic.twitter.com/rQh0XjhJ3z
— SJSU VOLLEYBALL (@SanJoseStateVB) October 31, 2021
•Boerstra led all hitters with a season-best 22 kills on a season-high 68 attempts. Her 68 attempts are the most for a Spartan player since the 2007 season when Jennifer Senftleben had 75 attempts at Idaho on October 11, 2007.
•Nelson added 20 kills as she hit .333 for the match with 51 swings and only three errors. She recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 17 digs to go with her 20 kills.
•The Spartans recorded a season-high 14 blocks, led by Ryann Thomison with a career-best 11 blocks. She had two solo blocks and a season-best nine block assists. Latahevai Lousi added five blocks, one solo and four assists, while Mia Schafer had three, one solo and two assists.
•Schafer recorded her eighth double-double of the season, second of the week and 13th of her career. She recorded 48 assists and 12 digs in the win and added two kills, two aces and three blocks.
•Sarah Smevog had a season-high 28 digs in the win, the fifth time this season she had recorded 20 or more digs in a match. She also had five assists and a service ace.
•San José State improves to 15-7 on the season and 9-3 in the Mountain West. The team is tied for second in the conference standings with Utah State.
•The team has a six-match winning streak, the longest since the 2001 season when the team won eight consecutive matches early that season.
Match Summary
Set 1 – The Spartans never had a lead in the set as Fresno State won 25-21.
Set 2 – The exact opposite happened in the second set as San José State won 27-25, but the Spartans needed six set points to win.
Set 3 – San José State led 16-15 on a Schafer ace, but Fresno State used a 6-1 run to take a 21-17 lead and won the set 25-20.
Set 4 – Again, the Spartans had to fight off three match points for the Bulldogs before SJSU took a 27-26 lead on a Thomison/Boerstra block and won 28-26 on a Lousi/Thomison block.
Set 5 – The Spartans jumped out to a 6-1 lead. Fresno State got as close as five points at 9-4, but San José State scored the final six points of the set, including two aces by Letizia Cammillucci, to win the set 15-4 and the match, 3-2.
San José State goes on the road next week to play at Wyoming on Thursday, November 4, and at MW leader Colorado State next Saturday, November 6.
San José State def. Fresno State 3-2 (21-25, 27-25, 20-25, 28-26, 15-4)
Kills – FS – Desiree Sukhov, Elle Rud 16; Madeline Boerstra 22.
Records – Fresno State 10-10, 6-6; San José State 15-7, 9-3.
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