By Stevie Corio — Staff Writer
San Jose State women’s volleyball team escaped Nevada on Tuesday in a nail-biting five-set game.
This is the second win in a row for the Spartans. They were previously coming off of a sweep at Utah State.
“We responded well, I don’t think we started well even coming off that great win against Utah State,” head coach Jolene Shepardson said. “We fought back because we really needed to work on that attitude and we’re bringing a lot of courage and a lot of fight.”
The Spartans’ offense was game-changing. They did not hesitate to take those big swings and dominate at the net with their blocking especially in the fifth set.
As a team, the Spartans had 62 kills with Haylee Nelson leading at 24. Following behind her was Makayla Lewis with 12 kills, and Tabea Schwartz with 10.
During the fifth set, it was looking dire for. The score was 5-10 Nevada, but the Spartans completely stole the momentum of the fifth set and was able to beat the Wolf Pack 16-14.
“We just turned the switch from swinging safe to swinging for their high hands,” right side hitter Haylee Nelson said. “We just took the attitude of they’re not coming to beat us tonight because we’re going to go after them.”
Defensively, the Spartans were extremely consistent and scrappy. The team had a total of 81 digs and 60 assists and was picking up balls that would normally be easy kills for the opposing team.
It seemed like libero Sarah Smevog protected the back row on Tuesday with her life. She picked up the majority of the touches off the blocks and was able to read the hitters before they completed their swings, allowing her to appear as if she was on every inch of that back row.
“My passers were absolutely on it tonight with that. We would miss a ball here and there, but then we would come right back,” setter Mamie Girard said. “They made my job so easy tonight.”
The Spartans play their next game away on Thursday, Nov. 7 against the Air Force at 6 p.m.
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