Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Nevada
Volleyball Wins Thriller In Five Over Nevada
10/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 22, 2005
Fresno, Calif. - For the second time in three weeks, the Bulldogs welcomed a top WAC opponent to the North Gym and came out the victor in a tight match. Fresno State hit .435 in a deciding final game and defeated second-place Nevada 28-30, 32-30, 30-23, 24-30, 18-16. Alison Pitton led the Bulldogs with 29 kills in the win, a season high for the Bulldogs and a career best for Pitton.
Not a game for the faint of heart, the match consisted of wild runs, comebacks and four match points for the Wolfpack, but Fresno State took advantage of their first match point and came away with the win. Game one was indicative of the way that the match would be played. The two teams stayed even in the beginning of the opener, but Fresno State started a run after a 10-10 tie and took an 18-12 lead after two kills from Alison Pitton. Nevada pulled the Bulldogs back to a tie at 21-21 before Fresno State recovered to take a 27-24 lead. Nevada won six of the last seven points though, and overtook the Bulldogs 30-28.
Capitalizing on the momentum that they gained from their first game come-from-behind win, Nevada opened up a huge run on Fresno State and took a 12-2 lead after scoring eight straight points in a Christine Harms service rotation including three straight Brianne Davis kills. Fresno State fought back through, and slowly pulled nearer to Nevada, before finally tying the Wolfpack for the first time in the game at 27-27. The two teams then exchanged points before Fresno State finally put the game away with an Alison Pitton kill and a block from Alisha McKee and Jessica Peterson to get the win.
The third and fourth games were mirror images of each other. Fresno State came out strong in game three and hit .225 on the way to a relatively easy 30-23 win. Nevada responded in the fourth game by improving a .000 hitting percentage from game three and hit .167 to take a 30-24 win.
Nevada opened up a 2-1 lead early in the final game, and after a kill from Pitton, Nevada scored three straight points to take a 5-2 lead. Fresno State fought back into the game though, and tied the game up again at 8-8 following an attack error from Carly Sorenson. Sorenson made up for that error by making a kill to tie the Bulldogs after they regained the lead at 10-9, her 18th kill of the day which led the Wolfpack. Fresno State scored two points to take a 12-10 lead following a service ace from Robyn Keune, but after a Nevada timeout, the Wolfpack stormed back with four unanswered points to take a 14-12 lead after a Teal Ericson kill. The Bulldogs came back to tie the match at 14 after kills from Angela Wiggins and Alison Pitton, but were unable to pull ahead after a kill from Erika Ryan gave Nevada a 15-14 lead. The two teams exchanged points again, but Fresno Stat tied the game at 16 after a Kasie Spencer kill, earned a match point after another Spencer kill, and won the game after Carly Sorensen sent the final point wide.
Fresno State continues quickly this week, traveling to take on Utah State in Logan, Utah on Monday night. The two teams will play in the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum starting at 6 p.m. Pacific time.
