‘Dogs defeat the No. 2 team in the MW, beating Wyoming 3-1

Saturday, November 18

Fresno, CA

1:00 PM

Fresno State

11-18, 6-11MW

Wyoming

17-13, 12-6MW

Wyoming

Fresno State

‘Dogs defeat the No. 2 team in the MW, beating Wyoming 3-1

11/18/2017 4:43:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Andrew Tomsky / Assistant Director of Communications

FRESNO, Calif. – After seniors Jacqueline Hutcheson and Lauren Torres were honored in a pregame ceremony the two Bulldog upperclassmen helped lead their team to a thrilling 3-1 win (25-20, 14-25, 25-23, 27-25) over Wyoming on Saturday in the Save Mart Center.

Fresno State (11-18, 6-11 MW) earned a victory over a Wyoming (17-13, 12-6 MW) team that has clinched second place in the Mountain West and will be playing in the postseason. The Cowgirls had won five of their last six matches and three straight and were 7-3 on the road this season. The win gave the 'Dogs a 6-3 home record as the team clinched its third straight season with a winning home record and its sixth in the last seven seasons.

Hutcheson had a match-high 17 digs and is now just 10 digs shy of reaching 1,000 career digs with one match remaining. Torres hit .364 with six kills and two blocks in the match while Taylor Slover and Aubrey Folk had 12 kills apiece. Haile Watson hit .538 with eight kills and led the 'Dogs with six blocks, including a solo block on match point.

How it Happened
Fresno State led for most of the first set, as the team had a 5-0 run after trailing 11-10 to take a lead it would not relinquish. Wyoming got as close as 21-18, but out of a timeout the 'Dogs had three straight kills, including two from Torres, to reach set point. Wyoming dodged two set points before the 'Dogs won it on a Cowgirl attack error.

Wyoming played its best volleyball of the match in the second set, hitting .320 while holding the Bulldogs to .000 hitting with eight kills and eight errors. The Cowgirls had five blocks in the set and used a 7-0 run early to take an 11-3 lead en route to taking the set and evening the match.

The third set featured 13 ties and five lead changes. Fresno State hit a match-best .439 in the period with 19 kills and just one attack error while Wyoming also had its highest hitting percentage of the day at .341 with 18 kills. Wyoming led 22-19 before the 'Dogs scored four straight points. The Cowgirls got one back to tie it at 23-23, but Fresno State followed with a kill from folk and a kill from Slover, her seventh of the set, to take it 25-23.

Wyoming outhit the 'Dogs .214-.167 in the fourth set but was hampered by six service errors in the period. The Cowgirls led for most of the set and looked like they would force a fifth with a 22-17 advantage, but the Bulldogs scored five of the next six points to get within 23-22. Wyoming still reached a set point at 24-22 before the 'Dogs had a 3-0 run to take a 25-24 lead. Wyoming saved one match point but then had a service error followed by Watson's block as the 'Dogs completed the win.

Quotable
Head Coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell

On the match: "An exciting match today against the number two team in conference. We played them calm and tough. Our offense and serve allowed us to stay in the match and come back in the fourth, when our block came through for us. A nice team effort and great win."

On the team: "Jessica Gilbert was able to come in and make a solid impact in key times. I? thought Haile played really well and used her athleticism to her advantage. In fact, both middles were reliable for us, which took some pressure off our pins. Brielle Hefner also did a solid job passing and playing on the left when we needed her to. I'm happy we got a win for our seniors!"

Notable
Fresno State has won eight of its last 11 home matches dating back to last season…Hutcheson has averaged 3.73 digs per set and 14.1 digs per match this season, needing 10 on Monday to become the 10^th player in program history to record 1,000 career digs…With eight blocks on Saturday Fresno State has 299.5 blocks this season, third most in a season in program history and 16.5 blocks shy of the single season program record…Watson has 143 blocks this season, sixth most in program history and the second most in a season in the rally scoring era (2001-pres.)

What's Next
Fresno State closes the season at home on Monday, hosting UNLV at 6 p.m.

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