Fresno State Athletics
One Shining Moment
12/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
2003 Final Fresno State Volleyball Complete Release in PDF Format
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Dec. 17, 2003
FRESNO, Calif. - Last year's 2002 season will likely prove to be the basic foundation in which Fresno State volleyball success in years to come will be based on, and, why not?
The 2003 Bulldogs have catapulted off a 23-win season and NCAA Tournament showing to a 21-win season and their sixth straight trip to the Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament.
They received votes in the USA Today/AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll for 18 times in the last 33 weeks dating back to last year.
They were a combined 44-14 overall the last two seasons while going 30-6 the last three years at home.
They were nationally-ranked as a team in wins, assists and blocking while having players individually ranked in kills and assists per game this past fall.
They set 12 school rally scoring records while tying their own mark set a year ago for consecutive conference home wins (6).
They set a new school average attendance mark (1,031) -- No. 30 in the nation -- and a new single-date attendance mark (4,708) while improving to 16-4 overall in league play at home the past three seasons.
They handed 13th-year head coach Lindy Vivas her 300th career win to open the year while collecting the program's 200th conference win overall.
They had the program's second All-American and first under Vivas.
Fresno State opened the first three months of the season by capturing three of four invitational titles, including its own tournament crown for the sixth time in 10 years. The Bulldogs also opened 2003 by playing 15 of their first 22 matches on the road.
The 'Dogs, who went 11-4 against non-conference opponents and 14-5 versus West Region squads, were spearheaded by junior outside hitter Kristen Fenton and senior middle blocker Carrie Hartt.
With Fenton and Hartt both garnering First Team All-WAC accolades for the second consecutive year, the two continued to etch their names in the school's recordbooks.
Fenton, who has set five rally-scoring school records, became the ninth Bulldog to collect 1,000 career kills and did so at the second-fastest pace (64 matches) in school history.
Ranked every week in the NCAA stats for kills per game, she pounded out a school and then national-best 41 kills against CS Northridge on Nov. 12. As the ninth player in Division I history to record a 40-kill match (since rally scoring began in 2001), Fenton became the first Bulldog to hit .300 in more than one year and the first to do so in back-to-back seasons.
Hartt, who garnered her first career WAC Player of the Week honor as a senior, wrapped up her career by putting her signature on single-season and career school records.
Posting back-to-back 100 block seasons, she became the sixth Bulldog to post at least 300 career total blocks. Hartt, who set three season school marks as a junior, put her mark on the blocking records as a two-year starter by finishing No. 4 in blocks per game (1.14), No. 6 in block assists (242) and total blocks (209) and No. 7 in block solos (67).
Joining the offensive attack and defensive proficiency was freshman outside hitter Tuli Peters, junior middle blocker Tiffany Bishop and senior outside hitter Stefanie Taelman.
Peters already has made her freshman campaign one of the top five in school history as she finished second in kills (281) and attempts (816), third in service aces (28), blocks solos (14) and digs (348) and fifth in total blocks (53) among all true rookie Bulldogs. Bishop, a Second Team All-WAC pick, filled the middle position with quickness and a great leaping ability to block shots. She led the team in blocks per game (1.24) while finishing second in total blocks (110) and fourth in kills (210). Taelman shrugged off injuries the past two years to become a viable starter and posted a career year in every offensive and defensive category. She recorded her 200th career kill and was the Bulldogs' "X" factor as she finished fourth on the team in blocking (66) and fifth in kills (136) and digs (215).
While her teammates reaped the spotlight, working quietly in the back ground and becoming the seventh player in school history to post a 1,000-assist season was sophomore setter Robyn Keune.
She was rewarded for her hard work by garnering Second Team All-WAC honors, ranking among the league's top five setters all season long. Keune dished out the third-most assists in a year (1,345) and set the second-best mark for assists per game (12.65). Nationally-ranked three times for assists per game, Keune set the school's rally scoring record for assists in a four- and five-game match. She already ranks No. 4 in career assists per game (11.57) and No. 8 in career assists (1,585).
Also an unsung hero that has been fielding hard hit shots in the back court was junior libero Tina Brennan, who will look to be the sixth Bulldog to tally 1,000 career digs next season.
Posting back-to-back 300 dig seasons, she became just the fourth Bulldog to tally a 400-dig year. Currently ranked No. 8 for digs per game (3.67) and No. 9 for digs (400) in a season, Brennan wrapped up the season with a 10-match double-figure dig streak (averaging 17.90 digs per match, 4.60 dpg). With six 20-plus dig performances this season, she ranks fifth all-time at Fresno State in digs per game (3.20).
With solid contributions off the bench by sophomore middle blocker Andrea Thrower and sophomore outside hitter La'akea Campbell, the 'Dogs also utilized the talents of freshman outside hitter Alison Pitton and junior outside hitter Amanda Magalei to spark all facets of the game.
On November 9, the Bulldogs christened the Save Mart Center with 2002 National Semifinalist and second-ranked Hawai'i. As the first true athletic event held at the SMC, Fresno State set a new attendance record that ranked as the 27th-best attended match in the nation at that point in time.
After opening the year at 12-3 before going 9-4 in the final two months, the Bulldogs had four all-WAC picks and Fenton repeated as an AVCA All-West Region selection. Finishing the year with a 21-7 overall record and a 10-3 mark in the WAC, the Bulldogs had their first All-American since 1984 when Fenton, an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American, joined current assistant coach Ruth Lawanson as the only two All-America 'Dogs.
The 2003 team was young as they fielded a starting seven that only had three veteran starters. Posting back-to-back 20-win seasons for the fourth time in school history and finishing second to Hawai'i in the WAC's Western Division for the second straight year, speaks volumes of a squad that pulled together for a common cause. And, while a new facility to showcase its success on a consistent basis may be on the horizon, the team at present is pushing hard and serving notice that the program wants to look out from atop the summit.
They are, in fact, unknowingly playing for that one shining moment in which a solid program over the past 13 years is accepting the invitation to be a Top 25 program and everything that comes with it.
