The San Jose State volleyball team was finally able to play a home match at Spartan Gym on Friday for the second day of competition against Boise State. Friday’s match was the team’s first home match in 441 days.
The Spartans once again fell short to the Broncos 3-1 in what was a competitive and intense match.
Despite the absence of spectators, an audience-like atmosphere was created with cardboard cutouts of fans in the gym.
Unlike Thursday’s match, both teams were wearing masks in accordance with Santa Clara County’s coronavirus guidelines.
Setter Mia Schafer started out with a perfect serve and a low line drive that could not be dug out by the Broncos to take the first point of the set.
The Spartans were off to a strong start in the opening set, similar to Thursday’s match, and continued to outscore the Broncos.
However, SJSU lost momentum and Boise took the first set at 25-22.
Similar to the first, in the second set both teams scored back and forth with neither leading by more than two for much of the set.
Boise began to pull away toward the end and won the second set 25-18.
SJSU did not give up despite being down two sets.
Once the third set came around, the team took a different direction.
Middle blocker Haylee Nelson made 6 kills and outside hitter Latahevei Lousi took the final kill for the win in the set with a final score of 25-21.
Boise led for most of the fourth set but SJSU stayed in the game, scoring 7 consecutive points to make the score 24-23.
But the Broncos took the set when middle blocker Jessica Donahue scored the final point in the 25-23 win.
Head coach Trent Kersten said Friday’s match was hard but, like Thursday’s match, he was still very proud.
“It’s about how consistent we can be and we maintained that for most of the game,” Kersten said over the phone.
He said the players will focus on themselves for the next few days as they get ready to travel to Colorado on Thursday.
Lousi said the team learned from Thursday’s match and improved.
“Going into the week it’s all about showing our love for the game, each other and believing in our systems,” Lousi said in an email.
Schafer said the team is going to focus on areas that need improvement.
“Going into our next match we are going to focus on our side of the court and clean up a couple of things to be ready for Air Force this week,” she said in an email.
The Spartans will take on Air Force Friday and Saturday in Colorado.
The San Jose State volleyball team kicked off its 2020 season Thursday after it was postponed for a year, losing 3-1 to Boise State at the Notre Dame de Namur campus in Belmont.
Despite winning the first set of the match 25-16, SJSU was unable to keep up with Boise in subsequent sets.
The Spartans started the match strong, as outside hitter Latahevai Lousi ended the first set with 4 kills and the final point to secure the win.
Middle blocker Haylee Nelson added 4 kills to the set as well.
Lousi added 2 blocks and 12 kills in the whole match.
In the second set, Nelson made 5 kills and finished the match with 15 kills on 40 attempts.
The match was both middle blocker Allyson Alden and setter Mia Schafer’s debut as Spartans in Thursday’s season opener.
Alden made 3 kills in the third set with a total of 7 kills throughout the match while Schafer recorded 4 assists in the fourth set with a total of 22 assists and 2 kills in the match.
During the match, the Spartans only led three times between the second and third set despite having the lead over the Broncos in the first set.
In the fourth set, SJSU struggled to keep up and was never able to retake its lead.
Libero Sarah Smevog led the team with 19 digs in the match.
The Broncos took the win over the Spartans in Set 2 28-25, Set 3 25-16 and Set 4 25-20.
Head coach Trent Kersten also made his coaching debut and despite the loss, he said he’s grateful to be coaching an amazing group of women.
“This was fun to play during a pandemic and so great to play knowing what has to go right in order for us to compete,” Kersten said over the phone.
The Spartans (0-2 MWC) played with masks in adherence with Santa Clara County’s new coronavirus regulations, however the Broncos (2-0 MWC) did not.
Lousi said that Thursday’s match posed many challenges that did not go the way the team had hoped.
“We played the best we could with the time we had to prepare,” Lousi said in an email.
Kersten said the Spartans’ first match was exciting and a great experience, adding that he was proud with the short time the team had training together.
“We played best in the first set then it wasn’t as pretty but it’s to be expected and we are getting better each day,” Kertsen said over the phone.
Schafer said she’s excited to be part of the team and proud of the resilience the team showed when facing adversity.
“While it was not the outcome we all hoped for, I am excited to keep learning from contributing to our amazing program here at SJSU,” Schafer said in an email.
