Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Fresno Pacific (Exhibition)
`Dogs Sweep Sunbirds in Home Opener
9/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State volleyball team enjoyed an auspicious home opener Tuesday night with a 3-0 exhibition win over crosstown rival Fresno Pacific at the Save Mart Center.
The `Dogs notched their second series win in three years with their 25-20, 25-21, 25-23 decision in front of a crowd of 1,784 - the team's biggest Save Mart Center crowd since the same match in 2010 (2,664). Tuesday's home attendance was also the third-biggest in seventh-year head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell's tenure (while the best came vs. the Sunbirds in 2008 - 3,002).
"It was fun to play in front of such a great crowd, and tonight was an important match," Netherby-Sewell said. "They're a solid team, and we needed a win to give us some confidence. They didn't make a lot of unforced errors so we had to earn our points. We had a slow start, but part of that was because we started three freshmen, two sophomores and a junior. Even though we were at home, our freshmen were a little nervous playing in front of such a large crowd."
Fresno State owned notable team advantages in kills (52-32), hitting (.270-.214), assists (46-29), digs (49-36) and aces (4-0), while Fresno Pacific sported an edge in blocks (10-6).
Senior middle blocker Maci Murdock tied her career high in kills (15), and her .464 hitting mark was just shy of her season high (.500). Her four blocks also paced the team for the eighth time this year.
"We had some ups and downs tonight but we battled," Murdock said, "and it will help us down the road. We had good balance and had a chance to use a lot of players. We played great as a team, and I was happy to make an impact any way possible."
Two Bulldog outside hitters added double-digit kill tallies - junior Zana Bowens (12) and freshman Carly Scarbrough (11) - and freshman middle blocker Lauren Torres added six kills - one off her season high.
At setter, sophomore Brooke Legaux tied the team's three-set season high in assists (41).
"Getting Maci back was important," Netherby-Sewell said. She's a key senior leader. She works hard, is aggressive at the net and blocks balls. Carly got to play the entire rotation for the first time so that was good to see. Brooke distributed really well and played with confidence, and we're going to build on that."
Sophomore libero Maggie Eppright paced the team in digs (16) for the eighth time this year, and freshman defensive specialist Jacqueline Hutcheson's 10 digs was her third double-digit tally. The duo also each landed a pair of aces to lead the squad for the first and fifth times in 2014, respectively.
For Fresno Pacific, Kathleen Anderson topped the Sunbirds in kills (9), and other category leaders included Gabriele Macedo (.333), Hannah Butler (14 digs), Kathleen Anderson (7 blocks) and Sarah McCann (20 assists).
In their last meeting, the 'Dogs also held the upper hand vs. the Sunbirds in 2012 (3-2), while the six-time NAIA national champions won the first seven series meetings between 2005-11.
Tuesday's match also ended a four-week opening stretch that featured four tournaments on the road and 14 matches in three different time zones for the Bulldogs.
Looking ahead, Fresno State (5-9, 0-0) opens its third season of Mountain West play on Thursday at UNLV (11-3, 0-0) at 6 p.m. and at San Diego State (4-6, 0-0) on Saturday at 1 p.m.
"Tonight was a good step for us leading into MW play," Netherby-Sewell. "We have a lot of tough teams in the conference that are talented and seasoned. We'll play some that are ranked as high as eighth in the country, and they're all tough. We'll have some ups and downs because we're so young, but we're going to try and improve each week."
"Be Bold!" - Watch every Bulldog conference match online at www.GoBulldogs.com/videos.
