Boise State volleyball hitter among best in program history; soccer season ends with loss
Over the course of four seasons, Lauren Ohlinger has become one of the most prolific outside hitters in Boise State history.
On Thursday night, the Boise State senior reached yet another milestone.
Ohlinger paced the Broncos with a team-leading 11 kills in a 25-18, 25-19, 25-17 loss to first-place Mountain West team UNLV at Bronco Gym to surpass Sabryn Roberts (2015-18) for fourth on the program’s career kills list.
The 6-foot-3 Phoenix native now has 1,291 kills — one short of tying for third.
“It feels great,” Ohlinger said. “I think since my freshman year I’ve grown so much as a player, like working on adding things to my game. So I think it’s helped me so much and all the coaches have really believed in me, and I think that’s what really has helped me push to where I am right now.”
Boise State coach Shawn Garus says Ohlinger has always put the team before any individual accolades.
“Everybody that’s on that list is an awesome player, and I’m really proud of Lauren for emerging to that level,” Garus said. “I don’t think she came here with any individual goals like I want to be the career kills leader or I want to win, you know, this many matches or I want to be all-conference.
“She just wants to play good volleyball. She wants to be a good teammate, and she’s done it all by doing the right things in the classroom and in the community. So she’s had a great career, and I’m really gonna be proud to see how she finishes up.”
Ohlinger also had a service ace against the Rebels, moving her into sole possession of eighth place on the all-time career list with 129, two short of tying for seventh. She ranks second on the team and fifth in the Mountain West for total kills with 300 this season and averages 3.37 kills per set.
“She’s been good since she arrived,” Garus said. “Night in and night out, she’s been the go-to outside hitter for us, and I think she continues to get better, but it doesn’t always show like getting kills, but she’s getting better at passing. She’s getting better at serving. And I think she provides a great leadership model for the younger players.”
The Broncos started the week in a tie for fourth place in the Mountain West standings but have since fallen to sixth place. Only the top six teams from the regular season make the Mountain West Tournament, which is scheduled for Nov. 23-25 at Colorado State.
It’s a familiar position for the Broncos, who earned the sixth and final seed in the tournament last season and ended up hoisting the Mountain West championship trophy and earning a trip to the NCAA Tournament.
“I think we just got through a really tough stretch,” Garus said. “There were six matches in a row, and five of those teams are top 50 in the country, and they’re top of the conference. We got one good win on the road in that stretch. And then we had some tough losses, but it’s how we respond.”
Women’s soccer: Broncos fall in regular-season finale
The Boise State women’s soccer team suffered a 2-0 loss to Utah State on Thursday in Logan, Utah, in the final match of the Mountain West regular season.
With the loss, the Broncos have been eliminated from postseason contention.
The Aggies scored in the first minute as Sammie Murdock lofted a ball over the Bronco keeper from outside the box, and they added an insurance goal in the 54th minute.
“Congrats to Utah State,” Boise State coach Jim Thomas said. “They were the better team on the day, and they had the same thing to play for that we did. At the start of the game and the start of the second half their intent was clearer than ours, and I think games get defined by those things.”
