'Dogs drop hard-fought four-set battle to Aztecs

Thursday, October 6

San Diego, Calif.

6:00 PM

Fresno State

10-6 (1-4MW)

San Diego State

11-7 (3-1MW)

Fresno State

San Diego State

'Dogs drop hard-fought four-set battle to Aztecs

10/6/2016 9:30:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score SDSU Box Score (PDF)Overall Season Stats (PDF)

By: Travis Blanshan / Assistant Director of Communications

SAN DIEGO - Despite finishing with its most blocks in a single game in more than three seasons, the Fresno State volleyball team fell tonight at San Diego State in four sets. The 'Dogs won set one 25-23 before the Aztecs claimed the final three sets winning 25-16, 25-23, 25-22.

"We are real tired of being right there in these close matches," said head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell after the 'Dogs tough defeat. "Our serve and pass game was too inconsistent to win. We gave away so many of the points they scored. We have to clean that up to pull off these tight matches. It was very encouraging to see us finish with 16 blocks. That has been one area that we have really worked on and I liked seeing our strength there. Aubrey Folk, Carly Scarbrough and Maddy Halteman were walls defensively on the the right side. Brielle Hefner and Aleisha Coates were able to handle San Diego State's left pin very well. We will tighten up our serve and pass game and start changing the outcomes of these matches," added Netherby-Sewell.

Fresno State (10-6, 1-4 MW) finished the evening with 16 blocks, seven solo and 18 block assists, for its most in a single match since Sept. 26, 2013. A span of 98 matches, the 'Dogs finished with 18 blocks in that contest; a four-set win at home over Utah State. The 'Dogs finished Thursday's match with 40 kills as a team with senior outside hitter Aleisha Coates leading the team for the 14th time this season. Coates finished with a game-high 13 kills and added two digs and three solo blocks. Ten different Bulldogs recorded at least one kill and nine different 'Dogs registered digs as the duo of Jacquelin Hutcheson and Maggie Eppright combined for 25 digs.

San Diego State (11-7, 3-1 MW) had three players in double figures in kills with Alexandra Psoma leading the Aztecs with 12 and Emma Fuzie and Deja Harris added 11 apiece. The Aztecs hit .161 as a team and totaled 51 kills. Devyn Pritchard totaled 13 digs and SDSU finished with 10 blocks as a team as Psoma had a team-high six block assists.

The Bulldogs got off to a quick start in set one taking a 5-2 lead and extended it to as many as six on three different occasions. After a kill by Carly Scarbrough put the 'Dogs in command at 20-14, SDSU responded with six of the next seven points to cut the lead to one at 21-20. The 'Dogs withstood the comeback attempt by the Aztecs to finish out the set getting kills by Lauren Torres, Taylor Slover and Coates for three of their final four points to win the set 25-23. The 'Dogs hit .323 as a team and finished with 16 kills in the opening set.

The second set saw SDSU get off to a fast start taking a 17-7 lead before a kill by Coates trimmed it to six (21-15), but that was as close as the 'Dogs would get as the Aztecs won 25-16. The third set was a back-and-forth affair as the 'Dogs built a 7-3 lead and extended it to 15-9 after block assists by Folk and Torres. SDSU refused to go away as the 'Dogs were on the brink of the set win taking a 22-18 lead after an Aztec attack error by Psoma. The Aztecs scored the next five points to take a 23-22 lead and after a kill by Hefner tied the match at 23, SDSU won the final two points to squeak out the 25-23 win.

After falling behind 11-7 to start set four, the 'Dogs went on a 7-2 run to take a 14-13 lead, but that would the final lead for the Bulldogs in the match. The two teams continued to battle tying the set at 20, 21 and finally 22 after a kill by Hutcheson. Unfortunately, the Aztecs scored the final three points of the set to seal the victory.

Fresno State returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Nevada (12-4, 3-1 MW) to face the Wolf Pack at 12 p.m. at Virginia Street Gym. The Bulldog football team also plays the Wolf Pack on Saturday with kickoff set for 4 p.m. in Reno, Nev.

Mountain West Scoreboard
Utah State 3, Air Force 1 (25-19, 25-22, 23-25, 25-20)
Colorado State 3, at New Mexico 0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-21)
at UNLV 3 Wyoming 1 (25-19, 25-23, 25-27, 25-14)
at Nevada 3, San Jose State 0 (25-12, 25-16, 25-20)

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