Fresno State Athletics
MW Opener Gets Away After Five Sets
9/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
By: Kimberly Fisher
kimfisher@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State volleyball team capped its nine-game home stand, opening the regular season against San Jose State on Thursday at the Save Mart Center. At the conclusion of a hard-fought battle, the Spartans claimed the victory with a 3-2 advantage.
Heading into this week's action, San Jose State stood three places ahead of the Bulldogs in the weekly conference standings with an overall record of 8-5. Fresno State now owns an 8-7 mark on the season and places ninth among Mountain West competitors.
"We didn't pass well tonight and were playing balls off the net way too much," head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell said. "We've been playing a lot better than that lately so I'm not sure where that came from but we're going to figure it out. We had some nice effort off the bench from some of our supporting players, they came in and made things happen. Some of our best players had an off night which isn't easy to come back from but we found a way to keep battling."
Team-wise, Fresno State held the advantage in kills (62), service aces (7) and digs (61) while the Spartans owned the comparisons in hitting (.221) and block assists (14), and the two-teams tied with 50 assists and a pair of solo blocks.
Leading Fresno State's offense was sophomore Carly Scarbrough with 15 kills in 25 attacks (.229) and junior Aleisha Coates landed a second-best of 13 kills. The ‘Dogs additionally counted a double-digit kill figure from Zana Bowens (10) in the five-set matchup.
Of the three Bulldogs who have posted double-doubles this season, Coates garnered her sixth with 13 kills and 11 digs, scoring a second-best of 15 points for Fresno State.
On defense, libero Maggie Eppright added 22 digs to the team's total of 61 coming against San Jose State. Following Thursday night's action, the junior paces the league in digs on the season (276, 5.02) and has logged the team-high in the last 16 consecutive matches.
Scarbrough aided in the ‘Dogs defensive effort, leading the team with five blocks while freshmen Taylor Slover and Jordyn Griggs had multiple blocks during the conference opener against San Jose State.
Starting setter Brooke Legaux helped Fresno State to 35 assists before senior Jelena Jovanovic made her seventh appearance of the season, to tally 10 assists in her two-set showing. From the service line, sophomore defensive specialist Jacqueline Hutcheson had a career-high of five aces on the night while Coates and Slover tied with one apiece.
In the final two sets, Fresno State relied heavily on key players coming off the bench including freshmen outside hitters Brielle Hefner and Sabrina Winslow. The duo combined with two kills in four attempts on the night.
San Jose State was led offensively by senior outside hitter Tyanna Roy who posted 17 kills in 41 attempts (.317) and setter Allison Meehan with 42 assists. Category leaders for the Spartans defense include freshman libero Luiza Andrade with 13 digs and sophomore Nandyala Gama who accounted for five of the team's 14 blocks.
Fresno State stacks up in the top five of conference action in kills (3rd, 62) and service aces (4th, 7) and individually Legaux is third in assists (35), Hutcheson tied for first with five aces and Eppright ranks third in digs (22).
As Fresno State entered the fourth year as a member of the Mountain West, this was the first time the ‘Dogs opened conference play against San Jose State who owns the all-time record of 48-32. Last year, the two programs split 1-1 during the regular season as the Bulldogs claimed a 3-0 sweep over the Spartans at home and were later edged 3-1 at Spartan Gym. Fresno State holds an even 2-2 record in MW regular season openers.
Up next, the Bulldogs travel to Logan, Utah to take on Utah State on Oct. 1, followed by Boise State (Oct. 3) on the road before returning to the Save Mart Center to face Nevada (Oct. 8) and San Diego State (Oct. 10) in the week following.
Fresno State will gain the home court advantage for exactly half of the 18-conference games, facing all 10 Mountain West opponents twice, excluding Wyoming and defending Champion Colorado State.
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