Bulldogs off to Portland for North Harbour Marriott Invitational

Friday, September 1

Portland, OR

10:00 AM

Fresno State

Alabama State

Bulldogs off to Portland for North Harbour Marriott Invitational

8/31/2017 9:48:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Complete Weekly Notes (PDF)

By: Andrew Tomsky / Assistant Director of Communications

North Harbour Marriott Invitational vs. Alabama State/Portland/Oregon State
Sept. 1-2, 2017 • Chiles Center • Portland, Ore.• vs. ASU/UP (Fri 10 AM/2 PM) • vs. OSU (Sat 12 PM)
Video: A SU Match • UP Match • OSU Match
Live: Live Stats on gobulldogs.com • Live Updates on Twitter (@FresnoStateVB)
Series History: (ASU) First Meeting • (UP) Tied 3-3 • (OSU) OSU leads 10-6
Next Up: vs. CSU Bakersfield • Tuesday, Sept. 5 • 7:00 PM • Save Mart Center

Scouting the Tournament
• All four teams enter the North Harbour Marriott Invitational with winning records; Portland and Oregon State are both 3-0 while Fresno State and Alabama State are 2-1.
• Alabama State played in the NCAA Tournament last season after winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) title going 24-9 overall and a perfect 18-0 in conference play. The Hornets lost just one starter and returned 12 letter winners in 2017. The team opened the year with wins over Savannah State and North Carolina A&T before a 3-0 loss at Auburn on Tuesday.
• Portland went 3-0 last week in a tournament at Wyoming, winning 3-0 twice and beating host Wyoming 3-2 to win the tournament. The Pilots returned four starters after going 17-13 overall and 10-8 in the West Coast Conference last season. The 'Dogs will be facing Portland for the third consecutive season, having lost to the Pilots at home in each of the last two years.
• Oregon State also started 3-0, beating Idaho, Pacific, and Kansas State in a home tournament. The Beavers lost only one starter from last season but were picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 after a 5-15 league record last year. Mary-Kate Marshall is 11th in Div. I with 5.60 points per set this year. The 'Dogs have six all-time wins over OSU but the Beavers have won the last three.

Solid Start
• Fresno State began its 2017 season in the Bay Area last weekend and came away with a pair of wins over Utah Valley and San Francisco.
• The Bulldogs won their season opener, beating Utah Valley 3-1 in San Jose. The team won its season opener for the seventh time in 10 seasons under head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell and opened its season at 2-0 for the second consecutive year.
• With a 3-0 sweep at San Francisco on Saturday, the 'Dogs earned a sweep in their first true road match of the season for the third consecutive year, having won 3-0 at Boston College last season and at Western Carolina in 2015.

Taylor Terrific
• Through the first week of the 2017 season junior Taylor Slover ranks second in all of NCAA Div. I averaging 6.60 points per set. She is 7th in the nation with 5.20 kills per set and ninth with 0.90 service aces per set.
• Slover is averaging nearly one kill per set more than any other Mountain West player, as San Jose State's Giulia Gavio is second at 4.22 kills per set. The second highest service aces per set in the league is 0.78.
• In her first match as a full six-rotation player, Slover had career highs of 25 kills and 6 service aces in the 'Dogs season-opening 3-1 win over Utah Valley. She tied for the second most aces in a match in program history and the 5th most kills in a four-set match.
• Slover accounted for 66.0 points last week while no other Bulldog accounted for more than 25.0 points over the three matches.

Rival Win
• In the annual meeting between the two NCAA institutions in Fresno, the Bulldogs of Fresno State held Fresno Pacific to .000 hitting in the match with 10.5 blocks in a 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-17) sweep in an exhibition match Tuesday night.
• The Bulldogs held the Sunbirds to -.034 hitting in the second set and -.033 hitting in the third as FPU, an NCAA Div. II school, finished the night with 27 kills and 27 attack errors.
• Lauren Torres and Haile Watson each had five blocks for Fresno State, which hit .208 in its first home match of the season. Taylor Slover led the way offensively with eight kills
• Since the match was an exhibition the stats accumulated by Fresno State were not counted towards the season statistics.

Atop the Mountain
• Fresno State leads the Mountain West in hitting percentage (.263), ranks second in the conference in service aces per set (2.40), and is third in digs per set (13.20).
• Despite being second in the league in service aces the Bulldogs rank fifth in all of NCAA Div. I in the category. Utah State is 6th nationally with 2.50 aces per set.

Welcome Aboard
• Of the 15 student-athletes on the Bulldog roster, 12 saw action over the first weekend of the season.
• At least one player made their Bulldog debut in each match; Emily Dzubak, Reagan Leonard, and Pumehana Nedlic made their debuts in the season opener on Friday, Montez Uigaese saw her first court time in the first match on Saturday, and Jessica Gilbert played for the first time as a Bulldog in the second game on Saturday.

Aces Aplenty
• After leading the Mountain West and ranking 15th in NCAA Div. I averaging 1.67 service aces per set last season, the 'Dogs are averaging 2.40 aces per set so far this year.
• Fresno State totaled 24 aces in their first three matches (10 sets) of the season while allowing just 13 aces from its opponents.
• The team's 180 total aces in 2016, which were 27th most in Div. I, were the most for the program since the 2002 season.

Hardly at Home
• Thirteen of Fresno State's first 15 matches of the season will be played outside of Fresno.
• The team has eight road matches and five neutral site matches scheduled over the first month of the season with just two home dates prior to Sept. 28.
• The team has just one official home match prior to the star of conference play, against CSU Bakersfield on Sept. 5. The meeting with Fresno Pacific was an exhibition.
• Eight of the team's 11 non-conference road matches will take place in California with just one flight trip to Portland.

Starting Strong
• The Bulldogs are looking to replicate their early season success in the 2016 season in which they had a 9-2 non-conference mark.
• In 2016 Fresno State went undefeated to win both the Boston College Invitational and Incarnate Word Invitational.
• Over 11 non-conference matches the squad had six 3-0 sweeps while hitting .257 as a team and averaging 13.00 kills, 2.21 service aces, 12.36 digs, and 2.08 blocks per set.

Juniority
• Fresno State's 2017 roster features nine juniors among 15 total student-athletes.
• The junior class accounts for nearly two-thirds of the roster while no other class has more than three members.
• Among the nine juniors are five returning players and four newcomers, as all four of the team's new transfers this year joined the program as juniors.

Super Server
• Senior Jacqueline Hutcheson led the Mountain West and ranked ninth in all of NCAA Div. I with 53 service aces last season.
• No other Mountain West player had more than 40 aces while her 0.49 aces per set ranked 11th in the nation and was 0.14 better than any other MW athlete.
• The 0.49 aces per set ranked fifth most in a season in program history and the 53 total aces tied for seventh, with both marks the best by a Bulldog since the 1995 season.

Senior Leaders
• The Bulldogs will rely on their two seniors, libero Jacqueline Hutcheson and middle blocker Lauren Torres, to lead the team.
• In addition to her serving acumen Hutcheson also averaged 1.83 digs per set last season and was one of just three 'Dogs to play in all 108 sets.
• Torres started 25 matches last year and ranked second on the team in points and blocks while averaging 1.67 kills per set. She was one of seven Bulldogs to top 100 kills during the 2016 season.

Her First Decade
• Bulldog head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell is in her 10th season leading the program.
• She is the third coach in program history to complete a decade at the helm, joining Leilani Overstreet (20 seasons) and Lindy Vivas (14 seasons) in that elite company.
• Netherby-Sewell is in her 13th season overall as a head coach as she led Hofstra for two seasons with a combined 43-19 record before joining the Bulldogs in 2008.

In With the New
• Fresno State has six newcomers on its 2017 roster to go with nine returning members.
• Among the new additions are four transfers, three of which (Karina Felipe, Pumehana Nedlic, and Emily Dzubak) came from junior colleges and one (Jessica Gilbert) who transferred from Div. I Eastern Washington.
• The team also has two true freshmen, Sydney Lostumo and Reagan Leonard, who both joined the program from the Phoenix, Ariz. metropolitan area.
• Gilbert has previously played with junior Haile Watson, who was also at Eastern Washington in 2015.

"Just the Ticket to Build Our Community" – The Bulldog Scholarship Fund gives Bulldog alumni, fans and friends the opportunity to support Fresno State Athletics and the student-athletes who inspire them. For information about how you can support the Bulldog Scholarship Fund, please visit www.bulldogscholarshipfund.com or call 559-278-7160.

Follow us on:
Twitter: @FresnoSta teVB
Instagram: FresnoStatevball
Facebook: FresnoStateVB