Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Rice
Volleyball Stumbles in WAC Opener Against Rice
9/24/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 23, 2004
HOUSTON - Look out when these young Bulldogs figure it out as blown leads and lack of killer instinct will become a distant memory once the Fresno State volleyball team learns to put games away.
Missed opportunities in all three games this evening against Rice at Autry Court played havoc on the Bulldogs who were swept (30-28, 30-28, 30-27) on the road in their Western Athletic Conference opener.
Hitting .171 overall and having as many as four new faces on the court at one time, Fresno State had two players in double-figure kills in freshman outside hitter Christianna Reneau and senior outside hitter Kristen Fenton. Freshman libero Yuko Mori had a team-high 12 kills while senior middle blocker Tiffany Bishop, Fenton and senior outside hitter/middle blocker Amanda Magalei each shared match-high honors in blocks (5).
Rice had three hitters as Rebeca Pazo (16 kills), Lindsey Carter (14 kills) and Kristina Hoban (10 kills) spearheaded the Owls' offense. Defensively, Rice also had three players notch double-figure dig performances in Hoban (12), Olaya Pazo (19) and Yvette Kirk (10).
The Owls, who received votes in this week's USA Today/CSTV poll for a No. 34 showing, is coming off a five-game road loss to No. 1 Minnesota. The loss was only its second of the season as Rice improved to 10-2 overall and 1-0 in WAC play.
"This was three tough games that could have gone either way," head coach Lindy Vivas said. "We had a nice performance from Tiffany (Bishop) and Christianna (Reneau). We executed the game plan we wanted and it worked, but we came up short."
"We had chances in the first two games to win and go up 2-0 but we made critical errors that cost us," Vivas continued. "This was a good night to upset Rice as our blocking held against the best left side outside hitter in the WAC, we ran our middle attack against them effectively and we just blocked well overall.
"We needed another outside hitter to put the ball down and we didn't get it," Vivas stated. "We had a good game plan and good effort but came up a couple points short. This is what happened to Rice last year at our place. In the tight games down the stretch, the team really needs strong leadership; we need to continue to work on that.
"Those critical errors at the end of the final two games came back to bite us - you can't do that against a conference opponent," Vivas said. "Rice took the #1 team (Minnesota) to five games the other night and this would have been a nice upset win for us.
"The good news is that Tiffany brought us the offense we needed in the middle, Ilima (Sam Fong) continues to set well and Christianna continues to improve her game.
"We had a good match up against them and our game plan worked," Vivas added. "Bottom line, they had three hitters and we didn't."
Game-by-Game Recap
Game 1 - With the game tied through the first 10 points (5-5), Fresno State went on a short run to take a pair of two point leads (8-6) and (10-8) before Rice tied the game at 10. After Fresno State tied the game at 11, the Bulldogs went on an 8-4 run to take a 19-15 lead. Forcing Rice to take a time out after trailing by four, the Owls answered back with a 6-3 run to tie the game at 21. From then on, the game would see saw back and forth with ties at every point up until 27. Rice then took a two point lead at 29-27 on back-to-back kills. Fresno State called its second time out and got within one at 28-29 on a Reneau kill. However, Pazo ended the game on a kill to seal the 30-28 win. Fenton was perfect from the floor for the Bulldogs, hitting .333 (5-0-15), while Reneau also had five kills for the `Dogs. Rice was led by Pazo, who had six kills, while her sister Olaya racked up 11 digs that kept the Owls in the game defensively. Both teams hit .180 or just above (Fresno State .180, Rice .184). The Bulldogs had one more block than Rice (4-3) while the Owls had a three dig advantage (22-19).
Game 2 - Fresno State jumped out to a 13-5 lead, forcing Rice to use an early time out. Going up 14-5 on a service ace by sophomore outside hitter Tuli Peters, the Owls chipped away hard and nearly erased their nine point deficit. Rice went on a 13-5 run to get within one at 18-19, forcing Fresno State to call a time out. Tying the game at 19, Rice took its first lead at 20-19 on a Fenton hitting error. Fresno State fought right back and got a two point cushion at 22-20 on a Bishop kill and 24-22 on an Owl service error. However, Fresno State shot itself in the foot when a Fenton service error and a team reception error allowed Rice to tie the game at 24. Rice took its biggest lead at 26-24 when it recorded a kill and served up another ace, forcing the Bulldogs to use their final time out. Taking a 27-24 lead, Fresno State launched its second come back to tie the game at 27 as the Owls used their final time out. Consecutive kills by Reneau and Magalei as well as an Owl hitting error allowed the `Dogs back in the game. While Fresno State took a one point lead at 28-27, a Bishop service error, a Bulldog hitting error and an Owl kill sealed the 30-28 win for Rice. Reneau led Fresno State with six kills while Bishop added four. Rice was led by Pazo and Carter, who had six and five kills, respectively. Fresno State hit .235 while Rice hit .324. With the blocks even at two, the Owls won the digging battle again (13-9). After two full games of play, Reneau was leading Fresno State with 11 kills and Peters had a team-best seven digs. Rice was led by Pazo's 12 kills and her sister, Olaya, had a team-high 15 digs.
Game 3 - With ties at 5, 6 and 7, Fresno State would take four point leads at 11-7, 12-8 and 13-9. Rice would get back in the game when consecutive errors by Peters and an Owl kill tied the game at 13. The game would go on and be tied at 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 before Rice took the lead on 21-20. Building a three point lead at 24-21 and forcing Fresno State to take a time out, the Bulldogs would get within one at 25-26 on a service ace by Sam Fong. However, Rice snuffed the `Dogs attempted comeback and closed out the game with a 4-2 run for the 30-27 win. Reneau and Fenton each had three kills for Fresno State while Carter led the way for Rice with seven kills. Fresno State hit .109 in the final set while Rice hit .176. Fresno State again won the battle at the net in blocks (4-2) but Rice upped the `Dogs by one in digs (21-20).
Fresno State (7-5, 0-1 WAC) will look to get back on track on Saturday when the Bulldogs continue conference road play at Tulsa.
