Air Force Opens Mountain West Play with Sweep of Nevada

USAF ACADEMY, Colo. -- The Air Force volleyball team kicked off the Mountain West season with a sweep of Nevada on Thursday, Sept. 25, at the Academy. Backed by double-digit kill performances from sophomore Brooksie Isham, senior Ashley Bible and sophomore Grace Fiaseu, the Falcons downed the Wolfpack 25-23, 25-20, 27-25 in front of a packed house at Cadet East Gym.

The trio of Isham (11), Bible (10), and Fiaseu (10) accounted for 31 of the team's 45 kills, with Fiaseu (.643, 10-1-14) and Isham (.409, 11-2-22) both hitting over .400 on the night. Fellow sophomore Mia Loyd became the seventh Falcon in the modern (25-point) scoring era to reach 1000 assists in a career, as she reached that milestone on her second helper of the third set. Loyd, who finished with 39 for the three-set match, also notched another double-double when she tied senior Jordan Suan with a match-high 14 digs. Freshman Sophie Bridges served up a pair of aces, while senior Alex Hatchett tallied four blocks, including a solo stop.

Bible opened the match with a kill, while a pair of strikes from sophomore Alysa Walker helped the Falcon to tie the set at four. Nevada retook the lead with three-straight points and maintained that advantage until the 10-7 mark. Hatchett and Isham both put down a pair of kills during an 8-2 run by the Falcons that sent Air Force into the media timeout with a 15-12 lead. Kills from Fiaseu and Isham, as well as Bridges' first ace and a solo block from Walker, helped Air Force push its lead to seven (19-13), but the Wolfpack came back – pulling within one at the 22-21 mark. Isham put down a kill to halt a five-point run by Nevada (23-21) and registered the final kill to secure a 25-23 win.

The Wolfpack scored the first four points of the second set, before Hatchett stopped their run with a kill. Three kills from Bible helped Air Force tie the set at seven and take the lead on the next point. Following a deadlock at 10, kills from Fiaseu (two), Walker and Isham headlined a 5-1 run that put Air Force up 15-11. Back-to-back scores from Fiaseu (kill, ace), as well as kills from Bible and Walker pushed the Falcons' lead out to six (19-13), but Nevada started to cut into that advantage with a 6-2 run that brought them within two (21-19). Back-to-back kills from Walker and Isham slowed the Wolfpack's run, while a Fiaseu/Isham block and another Bridges' ace gave Air Force the 25-20 win.

The teams traded points to start the third, with Hatchett making a solo stop and putting down the kill on Loyd's milestone assist, enroute to a three-all tie. An ace by Walker tied the set at seven, while a kill from Fiaseu and a Loyd/Hatchett block headlined a 5-1 run that pushed the Falcons' lead to 11-8. Isham and Bible added kills, while another Loyd/Hatchett stop put the Falcons up six at the 20-14 mark. Like the previous two sets, the Wolfpack stalked back – using a 10-2 run to take set-point at 25-24. Air Force was able to tie the score on a serving error, while the Falcons forced Nevada into a pair of errors that ended the comeback and secured a 27-25 win for the Falcons – and their first conference-opening sweep since 2018.

Air Force travels to Laramie, Wyo., on Saturday (Sept. 27) for an afternoon contest with the Cowgirls at the UniWyo Sports Complex. Action is slated to begin at 1:00 p.m. (MT) and will be broadcast live on the Mountain West Network.

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