Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Southern Miss<br>(Pioneer Invitational)
Volleyball Captures Pioneer Classic Title
9/14/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 14, 2002
DENVER - Fresno State captured the Pioneer Classic title with a 3-0 tournament mark after notching its eighth sweep of the season with a 30-24, 30-26, 30-16 victory over Southern Mississippi.
The Bulldogs, who improved to 9-1 on the year, captured their second invitational title after opening the season with a tourney win at William & Mary.
Junior middle blocker Carrie Hartt was named tournament MVP after hitting .356 (43-12-87) with nine blocks (0.90 bpg) and averaging 4.30 kills per game. Joining her on the all-tournament team was senior middle blocker Java Johnson, who hit .304 (32-8-79) and totaled 14 blocks (1.40 bpg) while averaging 3.20 kills per game.
In the match, Fresno State hit .324 and held its opponent below .100 for the seventh time as Southern Miss hit .032 and fell to 6-5 on the season.
The 'Dogs were spearheaded by senior outside hitter Christy Burnett, who picked up her second consecutive double-double by tying for match-high honors in kills (12) and leading all players in digs (15); it was Burnett's 30th career double-double. Sophomore libero Tina Brennan had 14 digs while Hartt, junior outside hitter Taneisha Tilque and Johnson each chipped in eight kills.
In game one, Fresno State and Southern Mississippi battled through 12 ties as both teams had the equalizer against each other up until 23-23. The Bulldogs took the lead at 24-23 and closed out the game with a 7-1 run for a 30-24 victory.
In game two, the Bulldogs rallied back from 7-4 and 8-5 deficits to tie the game at 11-11. The next six points were neck and neck with Southern Miss taking the lead at 15-14. The Golden Eagles pushed its point total to three over the Bulldogs at 17-14 before Fresno State bounced back to even the score at 19-19, 20-20 and 22-22. On a hitting error by USM, the 'Dogs took a 23-22 lead and closed out the game with a 7-4 run for a 30-26 win.
In game three, Fresno State took control after a 5-5 tie. The Bulldogs did not allow the Golden Eagles to tie the match and put as many as nine points in between the two (22-13). Fresno State closed out the game with an 8-3 run and won 30-16.
"We gutted this weekend out," head coach Lindy Vivas said. "Between being sick, being tired and playing in a higher altitude, I thought the team kept their focus and did what they had to do to win. We fought through some adversity and played through it. We won a good tournament.
"We had some good individual performances this weekend. Whitney (Arena) did a nice job of changing strategy against Southern Miss and Kristen (Fenton), who has been battling the flu all week, also did a nice job just to hang in there as long as she could. Christy (Burnett) did well, too. She's always a battler and she came back just to put her mark on another successful weekend."
Fresno State returns home next weekend, Sept. 20-21, with a quadrangular that features University of San Diego, UNLV and Sacramento State. On Friday, Sept. 20, the 'Dogs will battle the Toreros at 7:30 p.m. before playing the Rebels (2:00 p.m.) and Hornets (7:30 p.m.) on Saturday.
