Volleyball closes non-conference play with two more road matches

Fresno State at CSU Bakersfield
Sep. 12, 2017 • 6:00 PM • Icardo Center (3,495) • Bakersfield, Calif.
Video: None
Live: Live Stats on gobulldogs.com • Live Updates on Twitter (@FresnoStateVB)
Series History: Fresno State leads 19-5

Fresno State at UC Irvine
Sep. 14, 2017 • 6:00 PM • Bren Events Center (5,000) • Irvine, Calif.
Video: BigWest.TV
Live: Live Stats on gobulldogs.com • Live Updates on Twitter (@FresnoStateVB)
Series History: Fresno State leads 16-10

Complete Weekly Notes (PDF)

Scouting CSU Bakersfield
• After a four-match winning streak CSU Bakersfield has lost four straight matches, starting with the 3-0 loss against the Bulldogs last Tuesday. CSUB will be playing its first home match of the season on Tuesday and just its second match all year in California. Emily Lopes, who had 23 digs in the first meeting with the Bulldogs, ranks third in NCAA Div. I with 234 digs and is fifth with 6.32 digs per set. CSU Bakersfield is hitting just .162 as a team with Haylee Roberts leading the way with 2.51 kills per set while hitting .258. The 'Dogs held CSUB to .039 hitting last week.

Scouting UC Irvine
• UC Irvine will also be playing its home opener against the Bulldogs on Thursday. The Anteaters, who were picked to finish fifth in the Big West after going 13-18 last season, are 8-1 with wins at Cal and at UNLV among their early season success. Haley DeSales and Harlee Kekauoha both average better than 3.2 kills per set as the team is hitting .243 and leads the Big West with 1.59 service aces per set. UCI does rank in the bottom of its conference defensively in blocks (1.53) and digs (13.9) per set. Fresno State beat UC Irvine 3-1 in Fresno last season.

2 Matches, 2 Cities, 10 Sets, 1 Day
• Fresno State played a volleyball marathon on Saturday, playing two matches in two venues (with an hour and a half commute between them) over a stretch of less than 11 hours.
• The 'Dogs took on CSUN at 11 a.m. on the campus of Saint Mary's before crossing the bay bridge to play at San Francisco at 7 p.m. After not playing a five-set match all season, both contests on Saturday went five as the team played 10 sets of volleyball on the day.
• USF was playing its only match of the day and was able to outlast the Bulldogs in five after CSUN pulled out a narrow win in the first match. Together the two matches took four hours and 37 minutes to play.

Brielle Goes Off
• Junior Brielle Hefner had the match of her life against San Francisco, recording a career-high 25 kills while hitting .404. She had 13 kills and no errors on her first 26 swings of the match as she more than doubled her previous career high of 12 kills and tied for the most kills by a Bulldog this season (Taylor Slover vs. UVU).
• Hefner has been a consistent offensive threat all season as she leads the team hitting .272 and is second with 2.78 kills per set. She has been especially effective as of late as she has tallied double-digit kills in four straight matches, averaging 3.50 kills per set while hitting .349 during the stretch.

Block Party
• Fresno State leads the Mountain West and ranks 17th in NCAA Div. I with 97.0 blocks this season. The 'Dogs average of 2.62 blocks per set is third best in the league.
• Fresno State has recorded double-digit blocks in five of the last six matches and is averaging 3.13 blocks per set in the stretch after averaging 1.79 blocks per set through the first four matches of the year
• Haile Watson and Lauren Torres are both averaging better than 1.25 blocks per set over the last six matches and have 12 solo blocks between the two of them.

21 Jump Night
• Fresno State recorded 21.0 blocks, a program record for a three-set match and the highest three-set total recorded by a Div. I team this season, last Tuesday against CSU Bakersfield.
• The Bulldogs broke the previous three-set program record of 15.0 blocks set against Hawaii in 2007. The squad came within one block of the overall program record of 22.0 blocks set in a four-set match
• The total was the highest for any Div. I match this season before Western Kentucky tallied 23.0 blocks in a five-set match. The 'Dogs had five blocks in the first set, nine in the second set, and seven in the third set.

Running the Runners
• Fresno State has now won eight of its last nine meetings with valley rival CSU Bakersfield. Last Tuesday the 'Dogs swept the Roadrunners 3-0, recording a sweep for the fifth time in that nine-match stretch.
• The Bulldogs and Roadrunners will meet twice in the same season for the ninth time but the first since a home-and-home in 2012.

Double Double-Doubles
• The Bulldogs had two double-doubles in the same match for the first time this season when Madelyn Halteman and Taylor Slover both had double-doubles against San Francisco.
• Halteman recorded her third double-double of the year with career highs of 59 assists and 15 digs while Slover recorded her first career double-double with 18 kills and 11 digs.
• Halteman now has eight career double-doubles after she tied with Aleisha Coates for the team-lead with five double-doubles during the 2016 season.

Big Time Blocker
• Junior Haile Watson became the first player in program history to tally 10 blocks in a three-set match, topping the previous record of nine achieved twice, in the first meeting with CSU Bakersfield last Tuesday. Watson had four solo blocks, including a stuff on match point, and six block assists to lead the Bulldogs.
• She has recorded at least four blocks in all but two matches this season. For the season Watson ranks third in the Mountain West with 1.30 blocks per set and is 29th in the nation with 48.0 total blocks.

WCC You Later
• Fresno State played five total matches against teams from the West Coast Conference (WCC), playing at least once against a WCC team in each of the first three weeks of the season.
• The 'Dogs played two WCC teams (San Francisco and Pepperdine) in the first weekend of the season and another (Portland) the following week. The squad faced another WCC team (Saint Mary's) last Friday before playing USF again on Saturday.

Beating a Tournament Team
• Fresno State earned a win over a 2016 NCAA Tournament team with its 3-1 victory over Alabama State. The Lady Hornets won the SWAC last season to earn the NCAA bid, going 18-0 in league play and 24-9 overall.
• The Bulldogs held the Hornets to .152 hitting in the match and had a 68-56 advantage in digs to beat ASU, which entered the match with a 2-1 record on the season.

Taylor Terrific
• Junior Taylor Slover ranks seventh in the Mountain West averaging 4.18 points per set this season. She was second in NCAA Div. I with 6.60 points per set through the first week of the year.
• 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.

Starting Strong
• The Bulldogs began the season with a victory, beating Utah Valley 3-1 in San Jose, to win their season opener for the seventh time in 10 seasons under head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell. The 'Dogs opened their season at 2-0 for the second consecutive year.
• With a 3-0 sweep at San Francisco on Aug. 26, 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.

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 last Tuesday.
• 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.

Welcome Aboard
• Of the 15 student-athletes on the Bulldog roster, 14 have seen action over the first two weeks of the season.
• At least one player made their Bulldog debut in each of the first three matches of the season; Emily Dzubak, Reagan Leonard, and Pumehana Nedlic made their debuts in the season opener, 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 in San Francisco.

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 1.49 aces per set so far this year.
• Fresno State totaled 24 aces its 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 had just one official home match prior to the start of conference play, against CSU Bakersfield last Tuesday. 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.

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.

Fresno State Athletics

Volleyball closes non-conference play with two more road matches

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Players Mentioned

Aleisha Coates

Emily Dzubak

Jessica Gilbert

Madelyn Halteman

Brielle Hefner

Reagan Leonard

Pumehana Nedlic

Taylor Slover

Lauren Torres

Montez Uigaese

Haile Watson

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