Bulldogs host regional rival CSU Bakersfield Tuesday night

Tuesday, September 5

Fresno, CA

6:00 PM

Fresno State

CSU Bakersfield

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Bulldogs host regional rival CSU Bakersfield Tuesday night

9/4/2017 2:07:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

By: Andrew Tomsky / Assistant Director of Communications

CSU Bakersfield at Fresno State
Sept. 5, 2017 • 6:00 PM • Fresno, Calif. • Save Mart Center
Video: Mountain West Network
Live: Live Stats • Live Updates on Twitter (@FresnoStateVB)
Series History: Fresno State leads 18-5
Next Up: at Saint Mary's/USF Challenge • Sept. 8-9

Complete Match Notes (PDF)

Scouting CSU Bakersfield
• CSU Bakersfield brings a four-match winning streak to Fresno. The Roadrunners opened the year with consecutive losses against Arkansas and Utah State but have gone 4-0 since, including a sweep of three matches at the Jackrabbit Invitational at South Dakota State last weekend.
• The Roadrunners were picked to finish fifth in the preseason WAC coaches' poll despite tying for second with a 10-4 league record last season. CSUB had a 14-15 overall record in 2016 and lost five letter winners but just one starter.
• The 'Runners rank second in the WAC with 18.17 digs per set this season and also rank in the top three in the league in kills, assists, and opposing hitting percentage. Senior Emily Lopes leads the WAC by a wide margin with 6.58 digs per set this season while Haylee Roberts is third in the league hitting .319 while leading the team with 2.71 kills per set.
• Fresno State is 18-5 all-time against CSU Bakersfield and had won seven straight meetings before the Roadrunners had a 3-0 home win last season.

Block Party
• The Bulldogs have totaled 22 blocks in their last two matches, averaging 3.14 blocks per set in the span after averaging 1.79 block per set through the first four matches of the year.
• Fresno State had a season-high 12.0 blocks vs. Portland and followed with 10.0 blocks against Oregon State. The 'Dogs had eight blocks in just the third set against the Beavers.
• Haile Watson has led the blocking effort as she totaled 11 blocks in the two matches, tallying six vs. Oregon State with five coming in the third set.

Beating a Tournament Team
• Fresno State earned a win over a 2016 NCAA Tournament team on Friday 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.

First Double-Double
• Sophomore Madelyn Halteman picked up Fresno State's first double-double of the season with 42 assists and 13 digs against Alabama State. The setter also hit .429 with three kills and had two service aces in the win.
• The double-double was the sixth for Halteman in her career as she tied with Aleisha Coates for the team-lead with five double-doubles during the 2016 season.
• Taylor Slover nearly had a double-double as well against the Lady Hornets as she finished with 15 kills and nine digs. Halteman was also just a dig shy of another double-double with 40 assists and nine digs vs. Portland.

Seeing a lot of the WCC
• Fresno State plays five total matches against teams from the West Coast Conference (WCC), having played three so far with two more upcoming this weekend.
• The 'Dogs played two WCC teams (San Francisco and Pepperdine) in the first weekend of the season and another (Portland) last week. The squad will face another WCC team (Saint Mary's) on Friday before facing USF again on Saturday. The Bulldogs are 1-2 so far against WCC foes.
• The 'Dogs will look to improve to 2-0 against WAC teams this year when they face CSU Bakersfield on Tuesday, having defeated Utah Valley, 3-1, in the season opener.

Solid Start
• The Bulldogs began the season with a win, 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 its 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.

Taylor Terrific
• Junior Taylor Slover ranks second in the Mountain West averaging 5.07 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.
• Slover is also fourth in the league with 4.14 kills per set and is tied for fourth in service aces per set.
• 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 has accounted for 106.5 points this season, nearly double the next highest total on the team (53.5)

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, 13 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 1.71 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 start of conference play, against CSU Bakersfield on Tuesday. The meeting with Fresno Pacific last Tuesday 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.

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