BOISE — Paige Bartsch believes the Boise State volleyball team can sneak up on some teams in the Mountain West this season.
After a couple of years of seeing her team in the middle of the pack in its conference, the Broncos’ senior opposite hitter believes the team has the right mix of youth and experience to find itself competing for a title at the end of the season.
“I think there are a lot of good teams in the conference, and they know they are good teams, so I think they are looking past us, thinking we will be an easy ‘dub’ for them,” said Bartsch, the returning co-Mountain West Player of the Year. “But I don’t think teams are expecting what we have. I’m very excited for this season. Our freshmen that came in are very competitive and they were ready to go when they got here. The culture on our team feels different; I think we’re capable of a lot and it’s going to be excited to see what we can do.”
Boise State (4-2) will get a chance to show its home faithful just what they can do this weekend, when the Broncos host the Boise State Classic at Bronco Gym. Boise State will face CSU Bakersfield at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Idaho State at 1 p.m. Saturday and Gonzaga at noon on Sunday, with the three visiting teams all facing off against one another as well throughout the weekend.