Fresno State Athletics
1999-00 At a Glance
7/12/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
A 16-12 winning record and a 10-4 mark for a third place finish in the Western Athletic Conference signified growth and self-recognition for the 1999 Fresno State volleyball team.
The season began with a 6-7 worksheet and a tournament win at the USF/Golden Gate Invitational in its non-conference slate in September. But the Bulldogs went on a second half surge with a combined record of 10-5 in the months of October and November.
Tallying 10 wins in their last 13 matches and notching a 14-7 record in their last 21, the 'Dogs entered league play without the services of starting freshman middle blocker Lindsay Closs. Closs, who ended up playing in the final two matches of the WAC season, was lost for 12 matches due to a stress fracture.
However Fresno State answered the challenge by sweeping through conference play except for a pair of losses to nationally-ranked Hawai'i and San Jose State.
Ending its WAC season at home with a pair of three-game sweeps over SMU and TCU, Fresno State notched a 10-win WAC season for the third time under head coach Lindy Vivas. Improving upon its fourth place finish from last year, Fresno Sate also closed out the 1999 conference season with four consecutive victories while winning 10 of its last 12 league matches.
Fresno State enjoyed its road travel with a 10-6 mark after going 6-6 with three Top 25 match ups in the North Gym. Of the 12 losses, however, not all were bad. Fresno State came across five teams that were ranked or received votes in the USA Today/AVCA Top 25 poll during the season. Four of the five participated in the NCAA Tournament as Fresno State dropped seven matches to No. 25 San Diego, No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Hawai'I (twice), San Jose State (twice, WAC runner-up) and Sacramento State (Big Sky champions).
A fourth bid to the NCAA Tournament fell short for the Bulldogs despite a strong finish in the second half of the season. Yet individual performances stood out for a Bulldog squad that notched their sixth straight winning season and eighth overall under Vivas.
Fresno State netted four All-WAC selections in 1999 - tying the program's record for most all-conference picks in a season. All garnering their first all-conference accolade, senior outside hitter Anamie Buckelew was selected first team while senior setter Diann Aufdermaur, senior middle blocker Adrienne Sankey and junior defensive specialist Leilua Satele were second team selections.
Satele is the only returning Bulldog to garner All-WAC honors and to have played in all 98 games of the 28-match slate. Leading the team in service aces (31), Satele also captured all-tournament honors at the Fresno State Invitational and returns as one of the top two dig leaders.
Aufdermaur reached the 4,000-career assist plateau and became the second Bulldog ever in the school's annals to do so. Ending her career with the second-highest number of career assists with 4,345 in 377 games, Aufdermaur also is ranked eighth all-time in WAC history in career assists.
Anamie Buckelew finished her career ranked in nine career categories in 388 games at Fresno State. Notching 1,132 career kills she became the eighth Bulldog to reach the 1,000-career kill plateau. As the team's top kill leader in 25 matches she finished second in the WAC in kills per game (5.02) during the season to rank sixth-best in the WAC's single-season record book.
Overcoming a broken ankle preceding the start of the 1999 season, Sankey got the starting nod in 280 games and hit .261 in her career (eighth-best at Fresno State) and ranks in five career marks as a Bulldog.
Returning 10 letterwinners and brings in a solid recruiting class of seven true freshmen for the 2000 season, Fresno State is gearing up for a new brand of volleyball.
