Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Hawaii
Bulldog Volleyball Battles #2 Hawai'i in Loss
11/4/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 4, 2000
HONOLULU, Hawaii - Fresno State (12-13, 5-6) gave the second-ranked Hawai'i a run for its money in games one and two before being swept by the Rainbow Wahine by the scores of 15-7, 15-9 and 15-5 in Honolulu this evening.
In game one, Fresno State jumped out to a 4-1 lead and tied UH at 4-4 and 5-5 before the Rainbow Wahine went on a 5-0 run for a 10-5 lead. The Bulldogs collected two more points and closed within four at 11-7 before the Rainbow Wahine took advantage of three Bulldog errors and a kill for the 15-7 win.
In game two, Hawai'i dominated the first five minutes and jumped out to a 7-0 lead. Fresno State got its first kill of the game by sophomore Christy Burnett and trailed UH 7-1. Trailing 2-9, Fresno State answered back with a 5-0 run of its own to get within two of Hawai'i at 9-7. However, the Bulldogs would get no closer as the final eight points scored by Hawai'i came on five errors by the 'Dogs and three kills by the Rainbow Wahine. UH won game two, 15-9.
At the break between games two and three, junior middle blocker Shauna McQuaid tied for match-high honors with UH's Maja Gustin (10 kills). McQuaid also tallied three blocks (one solo, two assists) and posted a match-high seven digs with Burnett. Gustin had a match-high four blocks. As a team, Fresno State was hitting .085 (24-18-71) while Hawai'i hit .250. (28-10-72). Fresno State outdug Hawai'i (26-22) while the Rainbow Wahine had the advantage at the net with seven blocks to the Bulldogs' four.
In the final game, blocking was the difference. Hawai'i totaled 6.5 blocks and held Fresno State to four in game three. UH also held Fresno State to a .500 hitting percentage (8-8-39) while the Rainbow Wahine hit .213 (48-20-119).
The good news for Fresno State was the fact that it held the Rainbow Wahine to a .235 (48-20-119) hitting percentage in the match. Only three or four times this season has Hawai'i been held below .250 this season. The bad news is that Fresno State now falls in a two-way tie for fourth place with TCU (5-6 WAC, 13-14) in the Western Athletic Conference standings. UH (22-0) remains in first place with a 12-0 mark. San Jose State is second (9-2 WAC, 18-6) while Nevada is third (9-4 WAC, 12-11).
In the final statistics, McQuaid led all players with a match-high 13 kills. She also finished second in the match with six blocks while UH's Gustin posted a match-high eight blocks. Burnett led all players with 14 digs while McQuaid added eight. Hawai'i collected its seventh straight sweep and has now won 35 straight WAC regular season matches.
The crowd of 7,017 tonight shot Hawai'i over the 100,000 attendance mark for the sixth straight year. The Rainbow Wahine has now drawn 102,871 fans and is the only program in the country to drawn more than 100,000 for six consecutive years.
Fresno State is back in action at home next week for its fina two home matches of the season. The Bulldogs close out their home schedule with Rice on Friday, Nov. 10 and UTEP on Saturday, Nov. 11. Both matches begin at 7:00 pm in the North Gym.
