Big blocking set not enough as Bulldogs fall 3-1 at Utah State

Saturday, September 23

Logan, UT

12:00 PM PT

Fresno State

0-25-9/ MW

Utah State

2-010-4/ MW

Fresno State

Utah State

Big blocking set not enough as Bulldogs fall 3-1 at Utah State

9/23/2017 3:27:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Andrew Tomsky / Assistant Director of Communications

LOGAN, Utah – Fresno State tallied a season-high 10.0 blocks in the second set and outblocked Utah State 15.0-11.5 in the match but the Aggies hit better than .250 in each of the three other sets to beat the Bulldogs 3-1 (25-21, 19-25, 25-18, 25-16) on Saturday in Logan.

Fresno State (5-9, 0-2 MW) had its first double-digit block set of the season in the second set but totaled just 5.0 blocks combined in the three other sets. The team's previous season best for blocks in a set was nine, recorded in the three-set program-record 21.0 blocks vs. CSU Bakersfield.

Lauren Torres led the Bulldogs defensively with six blocks while Taylor Slover and Haile Watson both had five blocks. Slover had a team-high 10 kills and Torres and Brielle Hefner both had seven and Montez Uigaese had a career-high four kills on just seven swings, hitting .571.

Utah State (10-4, 2-0 MW) extended its winning streak to four straight matches and is 2-0 in league play after beating San Diego State by a similar 3-1 score on Thursday. After playing on the road for five consecutive weeks and having 13 of their first 14 official matches of the season on the road the Bulldogs finally return home for their next four matches over the next two weeks.

How it Happened
Fresno State had one more kill than Utah State (15-14) in the first set but the Aggies had 4.5 blocks and hit .312. Utah State led 15-9 and were up 17-12 before the Bulldogs had a 8-3 run with a block by Watson and Sydney Lostumo tying the set at 20-20. It was tied again at 21-21 but USU followed with three kills and an ace to win it 25-21.

Behind 10 blocks the Bulldogs controlled the second set. Fresno State held Utah State to just 10 kills with 11 attack errors in the set for a -.021 hitting percentage. Watson and Slover both had four blocks in the set while Hefner had three. Fresno State led 8-4, 15-9, and 22-14 and reached set point at 24-15. After USU saved four set points Hefner won it with a kill.

Utah State made some adjustments out of the intermission and turned things around in the third set. The 'Dogs had just two blocks and both came late in the third while the Aggies committed only five attack errors. USU outhit the Bulldogs .257-.105 in the set, turning a 12-11 lead into a 22-13 advantage with a 10-2 run and winning it 25-18.

Fresno State was held to just nine kills hitting .086 in the fourth set. The Bulldogs were close early and trailed just 15-11 before the Aggies had an 8-1 to pull away. Utah State had 14 kills with only three attack errors to finish off the match in four.

Quotable
Head Coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell

On the match: "We blocked a ton of balls but again didn't serve tough enough to earn runs. We had far too many receive errors to win the match. We have some things to figure out when we get home but we are asking a few players to step up and lead on the floor from here on out."

On the team: "Sydney Lostumo served tough for us and Jacque and Emily dug balls. Montez was spectacular off the bench and earned us some nice runs from the service line."

On moving forward: "We have something up our sleeves to get us back on track and we look forward to getting home finally to let our crowd give our opponents some trouble!"

Notable
Fresno State had won four straight meetings with Utah State as the last Aggie win in the series was in 2014…A season-high 13 Bulldogs played in the match…Lostumo had career-highs of 33 assists and seven digs and Emily Dzubak had a career-high 14 digs…The teams finished tied with 67 digs apiece.

What's Next
The Bulldogs have four straight home matches and six of their next eight contests in Fresno. The team's Mountain West home opener comes at 7 p.m. Thursday against Nevada.

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