Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Nevada
Resilient Bulldogs Beat Nevada in Five
9/24/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
RENO, Nev. - The final Western Athletic Conference opener in the reliably hostile Virginia Street Gym featured a Saturday night dogfight to the end as Fresno State earned an emotional 3-2 victory (21-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-19 and 15-10) over the Nevada Wolf Pack.
"We are really proud of our group that we persevered in a very tough venue against a team that was playing well against us and pulled out a nice, five-set victory," head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell said.
Sophomore Korrin Wild recorded a career-high 23 kills in her new role as one of the Bulldogs' outside hitters.
Barbara Alcantara, a junior from Brazil, tallied her third double-double with a career-best 56 assists and 11 digs. Freshman Jaimee-Lee Morrow and senior Brianna Clarke added 12 and 11 kills, respectively, in the five-set thriller.
Maci Murdock, a freshman from Turlock, also impressed in the middle as she had eight kills and no errors for a match-best .571 hitting percentage.
"Across the board, we had some really good efforts from people in new positions, who are just figuring out where they are playing now and showed a lot of promise," Netherby-Sewell added. "Bri really played like a senior tonight and I was proud of her fortitude in tight situations."
While the Bulldogs won the match's first point and Morrow landed six kills - half of her total for the night - in the opening set, Nevada used the raucous crowd to bolt ahead early for the 25-21 set win and quick 1-0 advantage.
Fresno State regrouped behind a .344 hitting percentage to take the second set 25-22 as Korrin Wild blasted five kills from the outside and evened the match at 1-1.
Nevada led for most of the third set before Fresno State erased a six-point deficit late to pull ahead 23-22. The Pack bounced right back with three straight points for the 25-23 set victory and 2-1 lead.
With the prospect of dropping its seventh straight regular season contest in four sets to their WAC rival, Fresno State rallied to a 25-19 win in the fourth set that forced a fifth and deciding frame.
The burning inner fire displayed all night by the Bulldogs - who are still without injured standout outside hitter Marissa Brand - came together for the final set. Fresno State landed nine kills and delivered a .421 attack efficiency to finish off Nevada 15-10 in the last set for the hard-fought 3-2 conference victory.
"We were not going to get back on the bus (to Fresno) without a win," Clarke said. "We had so much momentum late in the match because we all came together as a team. To win our WAC opener is key. We'll get right back in gym to 'tune up the machine' and get ready to play San Jose State."
As a collective unit, the Bulldogs - who received their first team "Fighting Spirit" Award from Netherby-Sewell this season - outpaced the Wolf Pack in hitting percentage (.289 to .228), kills (66 to 56), digs (51-50), blocks (12.5 to 6.0) and points (83.5 to 71.0) as the retooled rotation and refined gameplan produced a consistent and aggressive mentality from start to finish.
"It is a mental breakthrough to get a win like this," Netherby-Sewell said. "We are going to keep building on that fight and drive that helped us respond from losing such a good player like Marissa. I think we are in a system where we can be competitive. Our attacking improved and we are going to build on our serve and pass game that will help us improve each weekend."
The win marked the first for Netherby-Sewell - who played collegiately for Nevada - in her old college gym as a head coach.
Nevada's Janelle Batista landed 17 kills to lead the Pack, who dropped to 2-10 on the season and 0-1 in WAC play.
Fresno State (6-7, 1-0 WAC) will complete its three-match WAC-opening road stretch by traveling to San Jose State on Thursday and Hawai'i on Saturday before returning to the Save Mart Center on Oct. 6 to face Louisiana Tech.
"We Are Your Team!" - Stay connected with Fresno State Athletics on Facebook and Twitter (@FSAthletics). The next chance to see the 'Dogs at home is Oct. 6 when they take on Louisiana Tech.
