Nevada volleyball beats San Jose State

RENO - The University of Nevada volleyball team opened its league season on the right foot.

Led by three players in double figures in kills Nevada defeated San Jose State 30-27, 20-30, 30-26 and 30-25 Thursday night before 350 fans at the Virginia Street Gym.

"We're undefeated in conference right now," middle hitter Karly Sipherd, who recorded 16 kills, said. "We need to carry this (momentum) in the next few days."

Teal Ericson led the Wolf Pack with a team-high 19 kills and Carly Sorensen recorded her seventh double-double with 13 digs and 12 kills. Tristin Johnson dished out 58 assists.

Riding on a three-game winning streak, Nevada (7-5, 1-0 WAC) travels to in-state rival UNLV on Monday before resuming league play next Thursday in Reno. San Jose State dropped to 9-5 overall, 0-1 league.

The UNLV rival, unlike football, does not award a Fremont Cannon to the winner. Instead, both teams battle the floor for pride.

"It's not as big as some other sports," Nevada coach Devin Scruggs said. "Early on we lost to them a lot. They are much improved. It will be a very big match."

After winning the first game by three points, Nevada could not adjust to defend San Jose State's key hitters like Jennifer Senftleben and Niki Clement, who had 26 and 15 kills, respectively.

Scruggs told her players before the third game that they needed to control the Spartans' middle hitters.

"We didn't get the match-up I wanted in our rotation," Scruggs said about the second-game loss. "They (San Jose State) made some runs. The biggest difference was the ability to control their middles. We recovered after the break."

Johnson said the team talked about containing San Jose State before the coaches addressed them during the break.

"We had our own little discussion to pick it up," Johnson said. "We were definitely excited about that."

Sipherd felt the team took a pounding in the second game, but responded well.

"They were killing us in certain areas and we really tried to fix that," Sipherd said. "We tried to change some things and make it work for us. That's what is so good about our team is we're versatile."

Scruggs is giving her team today and Saturday off to rest and recover from injuries. The team will resume practice on Sunday as it prepares for UNLV.

"That's so good. We actually deserve it," Sipherd said about the two days off. "My knees definitely need the rest."