Oct. 23, 2008

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LOGAN, Utah - Senior middle blocker Rebecca Anderson recorded a career-high 15 kills, including four in the final set to lead Utah State to a come-from-behind five-set win (23-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-18, 15-13) against Boise State here Thursday night.

Utah State, who is now 5-1 on the season in five-set matches, improves to 6-4 in the Western Athletic Conference and 8-13 on the season with the victory. Boise State falls to 6-14 overall and 3-7 in league play with the loss.

Anderson, who hit .500 (15-2-26) in the match, also had six block assists for Utah State. Sophomore libero Christine Morrill added a career-high 29 digs for USU, while freshman outside hitter Liz McArthur came off the bench to notch 13 kills and hit .276 (13-5-29). Senior outside hitter Melissa Osterloh also played well for USU as she posted her fourth double-double of the season with 19 kills and 12 digs.

Alisha King had 14 kills, eight digs and six blocks to lead Boise State, while Sadie Maughan added 12 kills and six blocks.

After fighting back to tie the match at two sets apiece, Utah State appeared to have the fifth set well in hand as it led 10-5 before Boise State rallied to tie it at 12-all. With the score tied at 13-all, USU received back-to-back kills from Anderson and Osterloh to win the match. Anderson recorded four kills in the fifth set to lead the Aggies who finished by hitting only .043 (7-6-23), while BSU hit .160 (7-3-25) in the set but had four service errors.

Boise State took control of the match early with a pair of two-point wins as it hit .371 (14-1-35) in the opening set and .108 (10-6-37) in the second set. USU hit just .132 (15-10-38) in set one as it trailed by as many as five points, and just .070 (12-9-43) in the second set. In set two, USU trailed by as many as six points before rallying to take a brief 22-20 lead only to see the Broncos recover and score five of the final six points.

Utah State dominated sets three and four as it hit a combined .338 (31-8-68) and limited Boise State to a .086 (19-14-58) hitting percentage. McArthur led the way for USU in these two sets as she posted 11 kills and hit .474 (11-2-19).

Utah State finished the match with a .186 (65-33-172) hitting percentage as compared to a .168 (50-24-155) hitting percentage for Boise State. USU also had 12 more assists (61-49), 11 more digs (75-64) and five more service aces (7-2) in the match, while BSU had two more team blocks (12-10) and one fewer service errors (12-11).

Utah State returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 25 when it plays at Nevada at 8 p.m. (MT).