Air Force Academy
Boise State
Air Force Earns Thrilling Sweep of Boise State
10/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
USAF ACADEMY, Colo. – Backed by strong overall hitting and a combined 39 kills from sophomore Denise Ssozi, senior Piper Heineck and junior Abigail Miksch, the Air Force volleyball team swept Boise State this evening (Oct. 14) during a thrilling 25-21, 32-30, 27-25 contest at the Academy. With the win, the Falcons captured their 10th win of the season (10-12) and their third MW victory in four matches.
The Falcons, who hit .317 as a team, held one of the conference's preseason favorites to a .185 average. Recording her highest kill total since mid-September, Ssozi paced all players with 16 kills. Those scores paced the trio to all but eight of the team's 47 kills, as Heineck and Miksch added totals of 12 and 11, respectively. Heineck, who added a pair of aces on the night, led all players with a .706 average, as her 12 kills came on 17 attempts and no errors. Ssozi posted a .400 average (16-4-30), while junior Lauren Heldt and freshman Kathleen Medill each hit .222 behind three kills on nine attempts and one error.
In addition to their hitting, the group also combined for 16 of the team's 17 assisted blocks. Medill led all players with six stops, while Miksch added four and the trio of Heldt, Heineck and Ssozi each recorded a pair. Junior Sarah Hellman led the Falcons with seven digs, while classmate Shanleigh Conlan rounded out the squad's stat leaders with 25 assists.
Air Force and Boise State traded the first points of the match, with the Falcons earning their scores off of kills from Heineck (1-1), Heldt (2-2) and Ssozi (4-5). The Broncos scored four of the next five points to take a 9-5 lead, but the Falcons responded with a 5-1 run that saw back-to-back Miksch/Medill blocks even the score at 10. Boise State scored the next three points, before freshman Andi Ahlers stopped the run with an ace. Classmate Cambria Galloway put down a kill that evened the set at 14 and teamed up with Medill for a block that gave Air Force its first lead of the night (15-14). Ssozi (kill) and Medill (ace) extended the Falcons' lead to three, while Ssozi added a set of kills to maintain that margin (19-16, 20-17). A kill and ace from Heineck book-ended a block by Heldt and Medill during a three-point run that extended the Falcons' lead to five (23-18), while kills from Medill and Miksch secured the 25-21 victory.
The Broncos took an early 8-5 lead to open the second set, before the Falcons responded with 10 of the next 12 scores to take the 13-9 advantage. Ssozi, Heldt and Heineck put down the first three points of the run to tie the set at eight, before teaming up for a triple block that gave Air Force the lead on the next play. Freshman Jordan Daniels added a service ace during the run, while kills from Heineck (two), Ssozi (one) and Miksch (one) pushed the Falcons' advantage to five (15-10). The Broncos responded with their own run, scorign nine of the next 11 points to go up 19-18. Ssozi put down back-to-back kills that regained the lead for Air Force (20-19), but Boise State nabbed four of the next five scores to take the 23-21 advantage. Heineck (kill, ace) tied the set at 23, before the squads traded the next six points to an even tally of 26-all. Air Force reached three set-points, but Boise State matched scores at each point (27, 28, 29) and took the 30-29 lead on the next play. An attacking error by BSU tied the set at 30, while another pair of Medill/Miksch blocks gave Air Force the thrilling 32-30 win.
Air Force came out hot in the third set, jumping out to a fast 10-3 lead behind multiple scores from Ssozi (two kills) and Miksch (kill, ace). The Falcons pushed their lead to eight (12-4) behind a kill from Medill and a block from Ssozi and Heineck, but Boise State pulled within two at the 15-13 mark. Miksch, Medill and Galloway helped push the Falcons' lead back to four (20-16), but the Broncos again cut the advantage to two (20-18). Miksch and Heineck each tallied a pair of kills to bring Air Force to match-point (24-21), but Boise State scored the next four points to reach its own match-point (25-24). Ssozi put down a kill to even the score at 25 and two attacking errors by the visitors gave Air Force the 27-25 victory – and the program's first conference sweep of season.
"Anytime we can beat a team as good as Boise State ... it's phenomenal," head coach Marc Swindle said. "It's nice to have Denise back in the front row ... she hit .400, and Abby got some critical kills at the end. To hit .317 and hold them to .185 ... it was great. The crowd was awesome. We're going to celebrate this tonight and then get ready for San Jose State and Nevada."
Air Force, which posted a perfect 2-0 record during its only home contests of October, begins the second half of the conference season next week, when it heads out on the road for rematches with San Jose State (Oct. 19) and Nevada (Oct. 21).
