Match Stats
- Boise State def. Air Force 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-20)
- Boise State moves to 25-6 (16-2 MWC); Air Force falls to 10-21 (1-17 MWC)
- Bronco Gym, Boise, Idaho
- Attendance: 1,562
Tuesday night was a huge night for the Boise State Broncos. Coming into the evening, Air Force, the last-ranked team in the Mountain West Conference, was the only thing standing between the Broncos and the 2016 Mountain West Conference title, and in the end the home team came away with a 3-0 sweep.
“I couldn’t think of a better way to end it,” the team’s lone senior Maddy O’Donnell said on senior night. “I think its four years of hard work that has paid off. Obviously I’m the only senior, but (Kaitlyn) Oliver and Laney (Hayes), we came in together. To put in so much work and effort and see it pay off this big in the end has been so exciting.”
The team’s 25 wins this season is the second-most in school history and gives them back-to-back 20 win seasons for the firs time since 1990. The 14-game winning streak they ride into the NCAA tournament is the third-longest in school history, and the 1,562 fans that saw them win the conference title on Tuesday is the largest since the Broncos moved back into Bronco Gym in 2000.
The win clinched an NCAA Tournament Invite for the Broncos, with just their spot in the 64-team field up in the air until Sunday evening’s selection show.
“I think the NCAA tournament is going to be a blast, but a coaching friend of mine told me it goes fast,” head coach Shawn Garus said. “We need to get our kids honed in on specifics, because it’s one-and-done. We need to be really sharp and ready for that first opponent, or we’re going to be out really early. I’m excited for them to take a few days off and rest, but I want them to get right back in it and get ready to attack whoever that first opponent is.”
Boise State played a tight 8-player rotation and were led by 14 kills on a .344 hitting percentage from Sierra Nobley, who also chipped in 3 blocks.
Air Force, in a losing effort, had two players – Denise Ssozi and Elizabeth Pennington – score 10 kills. For Ssozi, that came on just 20 swings for a .400 hitting percentage. While the 2016 season did not end in a winning way for Air Force, those two are a freshman and sophomore, respectively, giving the Falcons hope for the future. For Sszoi, just a freshman, the output was her highest hitting percentage of the season in a game where she had more than 11 swings.
Press Releases
Courtesy Boise State Athletics:
BOISE, Idaho- It was a night of celebration for the Boise State women’s volleyball team, Tuesday night at Bronco Gym.
The festivities began with a senior night celebration for middle blocker Maddy O’Donnell, included a school record for digs in a season by junior libero Maddi Osburn midway through the second set, and ended with the presentation of the 2016 MW Championship Trophy following Boise State’s 3-0 sweep, 25-15, 25-15, 25-20, over the Air Force Falcons.
“I couldn’t think of a better way to end it,” O’Donnell said. “I think its four years of hard work that has paid off. Obviously I’m the only senior, but (Kaitlyn) Oliver and Laney (Hayes), we came in together. To put in so much work and effort and see it pay off this big in the end has been so exciting.”
1,562 fans were in attendance – the largest home crowd since Boise State volleyball moved back into Bronco Gym in 2000.
Boise State (25-6, 16-2) will ride a 14-game win streak – third longest in school history and which began with a sweep of Air Force – into the NCAA Tournament. Twelve of Boise State’s wins during their current streak came by a sweep.
The 25 wins this season are the second most in school history for a single season and gives the Broncos back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 1990.
“I’m excited about where the program is at, but I’ve also been thinking a lot this past week about how many alumni helped us get here,” Boise State head coach Shawn Garus said. “I wish they could all understand how important they’ve been to our current players. The current players may have won the conference this year, but we wouldn’t have been able to have done it without some of the alumni in the past who have really helped us be ready for this moment.”
“Coming in as a freshman, we were definitely underdogs as a team, but we had a lot of potential,” added junior Sierra Nobley. “I think this showed how hard we’ve worked for it. Last year we missed it and it really motivated us to get into the gym during the spring and the summer. I think that really prepared us. This is a talented group of girls, but I think our work ethic is what did it for us.”
Air Force (10-21, 1-17) jumped to a 4-2 lead in the first set, but Boise State used a 7-0 run to take a 9-4 lead. The Broncos continued to pull away from the Falcons, going up 17-8. Air Force battled back with three straight points to trim Boise State’s lead to 17-11 before a kill from the back row by Nobley ended the Air Force rally.
The Broncos were able to close out the first set, winning handily, 25-15. Nobley had seven kills in the first set while redshirt junior middle blocker Kaitlyn Oliver added a pair of blocks.
The Falcons battled with Boise State to keep the start of the second set tight, taking a brief 10-9 lead. The Broncos battled back with kills from O’Donnell and Nobley and an attack error from Air Force led to an 11-2 run for Boise State to go up 20-12 before Air Force called a timeout.
Boise State again was able to close out the set, winning 25-15 off a service error from Air Force’s Savannah Banyai.
Osburn set the school record for digs in a season midway through the second set. Her 522nd dig of the season was her seventh on the night and led to a 19-12 lead for Boise State.
The Nampa, Idaho, native finished the night with nine digs to give her 524 this season, achieved in 108 sets of action. The previous record of 521 was held by Jackie Stroud in 109 sets during the 2006 campaign.
The Broncos opened the third set with stellar defensive play at the net by O’Donnell and Walley to take a 3-1 lead. Boise State continued the defensive effort throughout the set and to continue the build their lead to 13-5.
Boise State finished with nine blocks in the match, including six in the third set.
On the night, Kaitlyn Oliver led the team with five blocks. O’Donnell and Walley each added four.
Air Force used a 10-5 rally to pull within three points at 18-15, forcing Boise State to call a timeout. Boise State closed the match out, winning 25-20 with a block by O’Donnell.
Nobley and Sabyrn Roberts lead the team with 14 and 10 kills, respectively. Jaymee-Lee Bulda added 31 assists and six digs.
Boise State is currently ranked 29th in the latest NCAA RPI rankings. The NCAA selection show will be Sunday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. (MT) on ESPNU.
“I think the NCAA tournament is going to be a blast, but a coaching friend of mine told me it goes fast,” Garus said. “We need to get our kids honed in on specifics, because it’s one-and-done. We need to be really sharp and ready for that first opponent, or we’re going to be out really early. I’m excited for them to take a few days off and rest, but I want them to get right back in it and get ready to attack whoever that first opponent is.”
Courtesy Air Force Athletics:
BOISE, Idaho – The Air Force volleyball team concluded the 2016 season with a 3-0 loss to conference champion Boise State this evening (Nov. 22) at Bronco Gym in Boise, Idaho. Sophomore Elizabeth Pennington and freshman Denise Ssozi combined for 20 of the team’s 31 kills, while the Falcons fell in straight 25-15, 25-15, 25-20 sets to the host Broncos.
Pennington and Ssozi tallied 10 kills apiece, while sophomore Abigail Miksch, who contributed eight kills to the Falcons’ total, led the squad with a .353 hitting percentage (8k-2e-17a). Sophomore Shanleigh Conlan led the team in assists (21) and digs (nine), while junior Piper Heineck tallied four blocks (all assisted) and senior Savannah Banyai matched her career-high with three service aces.
Pennington and Ssozi teamed up for the first two points of the match, as Air Force jumped out to the early 3-1 lead. Pennington and Heineck teamed up for a block (4-2), but the Broncos scored the next seven points to force the Falcons into an early timeout at the 4-9 mark. Miksch put down a kill to break Boise State’s run (5-9), but the host team scored seven of the next eight points to push its lead to 16-7. Kills from Ssozi, Pennington and Heineck put the Falcons in double figures and Miksch added a pair of scores, but Boise State took the opening set by a 25-15 margin.
Despite kills from Pennington and Ssozi, Boise State took the early 5-2 advantage to start the second set. Heineck teamed up for blocks with Ssozi (3-5) and Miksch (5-7), while a kill from Miksch helped pull the Falcons within one (8-9). A kill block from Ssozi and sophomore Lauren Heldt helped Air Force even the set at nine, while a kill from Pennington gave Air Force its first lead of the set (10-9). Boise State matched the score on the ensuing play and rolled out to a 20-12 lead. Pennington and Miksch added kills, while Banyai served up an ace, but Boise State repeated the score with a 25-15 victory.
Ssozi and Pennington put down kills, but Boise State opened the third set on a 9-3 run and extended it to 13-5, which forced Air Force into a timeout. Ssozi tallied three of the Falcons’ next five points, while a block from Pennington and Heineck helped put the Falcons into double digits. A pair of aces from Banyai bookended a kill from Miksch that saw Air Force cut its deficit to three (15-18), while a score from Ssozi helped shrink the margin down to two (18-20). However, the Broncos responded with four of the final five points to take the 25-20 victory and secure the outright Mountain West regular-season title.
The Falcons finished the 2016 season with a 10-21 record and a 1-17 mark in conference play.
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