Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Loyola Marymount
`Dogs and Lions Cap Action in Sacramento State Invitational
9/6/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
In the evening finale, Fresno State fell to Loyola Marymount, 3-1, while the `Dogs opened the day with a 3-1 loss to NCAA Tournament returnee UC Santa Barbara.
Against the unbeaten Lions (6-0), Fresno State won the opener, 25-23, but dropped the next three sets by 25-12, 25-17 and 25-17 counts.
"LMU is a veteran team that should easily get into the Top 25 soon," Fresno State head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell said. "We played them tough early, and I was really proud of our effort and ability to close on them in the first set. We got better this weekend, and we will continue growing next week. Carly Scarbrough is helping our play on both pins, and our freshmen add a lot of spark, while Zana (Bowens) continues to be key for us."
Bowens led the `Dogs in kills (14) for the fourth time the last five matches, and her 17.0 points was her fifth straight team-high honor.
The junior outside hitter from Long Beach also posted two aces - her third straight match with multiple aces - six digs and two blocks.
For the tourney, she led the team in kills (3.46 p/s), points (4.42 p/s) and aces (0.69 p/s) and ranked second in digs (1.92 p/s) to net her second straight all-tournament honor.
Scarbrough added 10 kills for her fourth double-digit tally this season, and picked up her first all-tournament team honor. The Sarasota, Fla., native played both outside hitter and right side hitter Saturday evening and averaged 2.50 kills and hit .247 for the three matches.
Aiding the offense versus the Gauchos, redshirt junior Molly Pearson added a season-high eight kills and a team-best .429 hitting mark.
Freshman middle blocker Lauren Torres topped the team in blocks for the first time in her career (4) and doubled her previous season best (2) that she had notched three times. The Visalia, Calif., native also connected on seven kills for a .308 hitting mark - both season highs.
Sophomore setter Brooke Legaux logged 36 assists in her third start of the season, while junior Jelena Jovanovic played the final set and ended with nine assists.
Sophomore libero Maggie Eppright paced the team in digs (10) for the fourth time in 2014, and senior defensive specialist Christina Lee claimed eight digs in her first start of the year
Lion offensive leaders included Sarah Sponcil (16 kills, .484, 11 digs) and Caitlin DeWitte (18 kills, .424, 8 digs), and other category leaders included Hannah Tedrow (55 assists), Rachelle Suaava (8 blocks), Kristen Castellanos (1 ace) and Avery Bush (1 ace).
In the first set, LMU opened up an early 8-4 lead, but the `Dogs answered with a 5-0 run that was fueled by four Bowens kills to go ahead, 9-8. After a 10-10 tie, Fresno State moved ahead back ahead, 17-11, aided by a pair of kills by both Bowens and Morrow. The Lions came back with their own 4-1 run to re-tie the match, 19-19, then went ahead, 21-20. However, FS answered with a 5-2 run to end the set, 25-23, thanks to three more Bowens kills for the win.
LMU controlled the momentum predominantly in the second set, and after a 2-2- tie, jumped ahead 7-2, after a pair of `Dog attack errors and Lion block. After Fresno State narrowed the deficit to 8-5 on a Jaimee-Lee Morrow kill, LMU soon upped its lead to 12-7. The Lions then used an 8-2 run to go up 21-9 en route to a 25-21 final margin.
In the third set, LMU held a three- to four-point advantage in the first half of the set before a 5-1 run netted a 19-11 lead on a Sponcil kill. The teams then traded points as the Lions later claimed the set, 25-17.
Loyola Marymount also jumped out early in the fourth set to a 7-2 lead, thanks to a five-point run that included two kills by Suaava and two `Dog attack errors. Fresno State's best string in the set -a 4-1 response - pulled the `Dogs within 10-7 on a block by Torres and Bowens. However, after a later three-point LMU surge made it 17-11, the Lions continued to pull away to the 25-17 win, and hit a match-best .556 percentage in the period.
MATCH ONE RECAP
Earlier Saturday morning against UC Santa Barbara (1-4), the returning NCAA Tournament advancer won the first, second and fourth sets by 25-20 scores, while the `Dogs took the third set by the same margin in the 3-1 decision.
The returning Big West champions held edges in kills (63-48), hitting (.324-.226), assists (58-45), digs (51-46), blocks (11-7) and aces (7-6), while the `Dogs logged fewer service errors (5-9).
"It was hard to find our rhythm early," Fresno State head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell said. "We struggled offensively at first, and they served tough. Overall, we hit at a pretty high level by the end. We got out-defended which is unusual for us. We need to continue to get better defensively and hold teams from runs."
For the `Dogs, senior outside hitter Jaimee-Lee Morrow paced the team in kills (14) for the first time in her career. The Mooroolbark, Australia native's.346 hitting mark was also her best of the campaign and second straight +.300 total after she hit .333 with 16 kills vs. Sacramento State Friday night.
Bowens connected on a team-season high five aces - a career high that moved her into a tie for third among four-set rally scoring matches with former All-WAC selections Christianna Reneau (2004) and Carrie Hartt (2003).
The Long Beach, Calif., native Bowens added 12 kills for her fourth straight double-digit tally of the season and eighth career-wise.
Scarbrough anchored the team from the right side for the second straight match. Her .360 hitting mark was a season high, while her 11 kills was her third double-digit tally of the year.
"I like what Carly adds offensively on the right side," Netherby-Sewell said, "and Jaimee-Lee hit well, too. I like where we're going offensively. It'll take some time with this team. We have so many newcomers and returnees playing bigger roles."
Senior middle blocker Maci Murdock added four blocks to pace the squad for the third straight match (and fourth time in 2014), along with eight kills.
At setter, Legaux made her second straight start and logged 38 assists - her second-highest mark as a Bulldog. Her career-high 12 digs rounded out her first double-double, and she added the team's other ace and two blocks.
UCSB featured four hitters with +10 kills - Chanel Hoffman (15, .500), Britton Taylor (12, .391), Ali Barbeau (11, .200) and Jaylen Villanueva (10, .250). Other Gaucho category leaders included Ali Santi (27 assists), Phoebe Grunt (3 aces, 7 blocks), Barbeau (3 aces), Villanueva (7 blocks) and Hoffman (10 digs).
In the first set, the teams were tied five times between the ninth-16th points before a three-point UCSB run gave it a 19-16 advantage. Its 18th point, however, came courtesy of the Hornets Nest gym after an overhead venting duct kept an errant pass in bounds above the UCSB bench, and the overhead pass went for a kill. Moments later as UCSB served for the set, an illegal Gaucho substitution call took away two points and gave the `Dogs new hope. However, UCSB ended the set with three straight points on a pair of kills and block to win, 25-20.
In the second set, UCSB jumped out to a 6-2 lead, then used a 9-1 run to push out to an 18-6 advantage. Bowens sparked new life for Fresno State with an impressive nine-serve stretch that featured a pair of aces to pull the `Dogs within 19-15. Fresno State later pulled within, 21-19, after a pair of kills by Morrow and Murdock, but the Gauchos used a 6-1 answer in the 25-20 decision.
In the third set, the gym gave UCSB another point at 3-2 as the `Dogs celebrated an apparent kill, but as the errant UCSB pass drifted high off the backside of the court it hit a hanging light standard, and enabled a Gaucho pass that was free-balled over for a kill. That didn't stop the `Dogs from a five-point run that pushed the Fresno State lead to 8-2 behind senior defensive specialist Christina Lee. UCSB narrowed the lead to one point at 14-13 and 18-17, but a 5-1 `Dog run that featured a Scarbrough solo block, two Bowens aces and one of Murdock's four kills in the set pushed the lead to 24-19, and ultimately a 25-20 win.
In the fourth set, UCSB used a trio of three-point runs to take a 14-7 lead that featured three Gaucho blocks and four `Dog hitting errors. Another three-point UCSB stretch pushed its lead to 20-12, but Fresno State pulled back within 23-20 thanks to three Bowens kills and a block by Scarbrough and freshman middle blocker Lauren Torres. UCSB ended the rally with consecutive kills from Villanueva for a 25-20 win in the finale.
In other action Saturday, Sacramento State fell by 3-0 scores to both Loyola Marymount and UC Santa Barbara, while the Lions claimed the tourney title thanks to their sweep of the Gauchos Friday evening.
Fresno State won its tourney opener Friday evening by a 3-2 count over the host Hornets.
Looking ahead, the `Dogs head to the East Coast for their busiest week of the season which kicks off with a Wednesday match at LIU Brooklyn at 3 p.m. Pacific Time. Fresno State then has four matches in the Jack Kaiser Volleyball Classic against St. Francis and Dartmouth on Friday and New Hampshire and host St. John's on Saturday.
More tourney information is located at the www.RedStormSports.com website.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Caitlin DeWitt - Loyola Marymount (MVP)
Sarah Sponcil - Loyola Marymount
Hannah Tedrow - Loyola Marymount
Britton Taylor - UC Santa Barbara
Ali Santi - UC Santa Barbara
Carly Scarbrough - Fresno State
Zana Bowens - Fresno State
