Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Boise State
Freshmen Lead `Dogs to First WAC Win
10/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 1, 2009
BOISE, Idaho - After being down two sets to none, the Fresno State volleyball rallied to defeat the Boise State Broncos in Bronco Gym on Thursday night, 3-2, by set scores of 16-25, 19-25, 25-17, 25-21 and 15-11. The `Dogs improve to 8-6 (1-1 WAC). The eight wins are the most by a Bulldog team since 2004. It was also the first victory for the `Dogs over Boise State since 2007.
Set one was a see-saw with eight ties and three lead changes. The `Dogs took an early 9-7 lead before the Broncos went up 21-15. Boise State closed the set to take the early lead in the match with a 25-16 victory.
Kelly Leonardo led the `Dogs in set one with three kills and a .400 hitting percentage.
Down 12-8 in the second set, back-to-back aces by Kelly Mason and a block by Brianna Clarke and Baylee Platt got the `Dogs within two at 12-10 and forced a Boise State timeout.
With the `Dogs down 13-11, Boise State went on a 4-0 run to force a Fresno State timeout.
Boise State had four match points but the `Dogs kept rallying behind the serving of Mason, but on the fifth match point, the Broncos converted for a 25-19 set victory to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The `Dogs went up 8-5 early in set three with kills by freshmen Cecilia Agraz and Taylor Horton. The `Dogs extended their lead to 10-6 with a service ace by Meghan Moss.
The largest lead of the match for the `Dogs came at 21-13 as the `Dogs went on a 5-0 run.
On the second set point for the `Dogs, a solo block by Clarke gave the `Dogs a 25-17 set three victory to keep the `Dogs in the match 2-1.
Agraz had five kills in the set as the `Dogs hit a match-high .444. Horton added four kills.
The `Dogs came out on fire in set four with a 7-3 lead after a kill by Horton and an ace by Lauren Berger.
The `Dogs took a five point lead at 12-7 but the Broncos fought back to get within one, 16-15 but that is as close as the Broncos got as the `Dogs finished the set to tie the match at 2-2, with a 25-21 win.
Berger had five kills in the set (5-7, .714) and as a team the `Dogs had a match-high 16 kills.
Points rallied throughout set five before the `Dogs took a two point lead at 9-7 off of a block by Clarke.
The `Dogs continued to roll and won the set 15-11 and the match.
Berger led the `Dogs with 13 kills (13-26, .385). Horton posted a career-high with 10 kills and fellow freshmen Agraz (eight kills) and Marissa Brand (seven kills) also posted career-highs, respectively.
Mason posted a new season-high with 20 digs and Allanah Munson added 31 assists and 12 digs for a double-double.
As a team, the `Dogs had 10.0 blocks, two more then the Broncos.
"The match tonight showed us that we need to play really hard all the time to pull off wins in the WAC against anybody," said head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell. "I was proud at our ability to close sets and recover from errors. I thought we looked a lot better in the last three so we are going to build on that."
Fighting Spirit
The freshmen class: Cecilia Agraz, Marissa Brand and Taylor Horton.
"After two bad first sets, I decided to throw in the freshmen and see what they could do and they were a stabilizing force for us in the last three sets," Netherby-Sewell said. "I thought they showed a ton of maturity to help us win our first in-conference match. Taylor was in a new position and helped us score points on the outside and all three of them were steady and didn't make errors so they were a huge reason why we won tonight."
The `Dogs conclude the weekend by taking on Idaho at in Moscow, Idaho on Saturday at 1 p.m. Live stats will be available at www.govandals.com.
"We Are Your Team" - The Bulldogs return to the Save Mart Center on Thursday, Oct. 8 as they host Utah State at 7 p.m. It's Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night and all Fresno State faculty and staff receive FREE admission and can receive $2 admission for up to four guests. Tickets can be purchased through the Save Mart Center Box Office, by calling 559-485-TIXS or through ticketmaster.com.
