By Titus Wilkinson (@TitusWisme) – Spear Reporter
Home openers are always more fun when the home team finds a way to win and that’s exactly what San Jose State volleyball (3-1), (0-0 MW) did beating Saint Mary’s (0-4), (0-0 WCC) 3-1.
It started off with the Spartans charging right out of the gate having a lead of 15-7 over Saint Mary’s. Despite the big lead, SJSU decided to not look back and took the set in dominating fashion 25-11.
The next set, however, would not start off great for the SJSU as Saint Mary’s showed resolve and lead 4-0 early. Senior outside hitter Amethyst Harper, who was active all night with her booming spike, helped the Spartans get the lead back.
After much back-and-forth, the second set would finally fall into SJSU’s hands 25-20. Fifth-year outside hitter Haylee Nelson would also be a key contributor all night with a hitting percentage of .548%.
Unfortunately for the Spartans, any hope of getting out of this game would be easily dashed with a couple of wide shots in the third set that would give Saint Mary’s a lead of 10-6.
The third set then would get quite exciting as the Spartans would go on an 8-0 run, taking the lead in the set at 21-18. Frustratingly, even despite SJSU’s great effort, Saint Mary’s would rally and win the set at 26-24.
Finally, it came down to the fourth set, and with the pressure on SJSU, they would deliver. However, it would not be an easy victory with the set going back and forth, at a certain point being 13-12.
Unsurprisingly, a certain player who was already off to a hot start would land the killing blow, that player being Nelson. When the kill was landed the fans celebrated a decisive home opening win of 3-1 over Saint Mary’s.
Graduate student Carley Aigner-Swesey commented on the fans cheering them on in the home opener, saying, “yeah I think it was really good, our fans were really loud out there they were cheering really loud.”
The Spartans play Sacramento State tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. hoping to continue their hot start to the season.
