Bulldogs pull off another five-set win against San Francisco

Saturday, September 1

Fresno, Calif.

1 P.M. PT

Fresno State

6-1

San Francisco

2-4

San Francisco

Fresno State

Bulldogs pull off another five-set win against San Francisco

9/1/2018 5:28:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Andrew Tomsky / Assistant Director of Communications

Fresno State Invitational Tournament Central

FRESNO, Calif. – For the second consecutive match and the fourth time in seven matches this season, Fresno State was able to pull out a five-set win, earning its latest marathon victory beating San Francisco 3-2 (25-22, 14-25, 25-21, 25-17, 15-13) to conclude play in the Fresno State Invitational on Saturday.

Fresno State (6-1) has started the season winning six of its first seven matches for the first time since 2009. San Francisco (2-4) went winless in the tournament but played each of its three opponents very close.

Senior Jessica Gilbert led the 'Dogs with 18 kills and a career-high 21 digs in the win on Saturday. Taylor Slover (17 kills), Haile Watson (13), and Kava Durr (12) also finished with double-digit kills against the Dons. Watson hit .478 with a match-high seven blocks, Madelyn Halteman posted 51 assists and a career-high 16 digs, and Reagan Leonard had a match-high 26 digs.

Gilbert and Watson were named to the Fresno State Invitational All-Tournament team. The complete All-Tournament team and final standings can be found below.

How it Happened
There were a total of 30 ties and 19 lead changes in the match. The first set had nine ties and six lead changes, and the 'Dogs held a 20-14 lead before USF came charging back to pull even at 22-22. The 'Dogs then got a kill from Durr followed by a USF attack error and a block from Watson and Slover to win it 25-22.

Fresno State hit a match-worst .094 in the second set while San Francisco had its best hitting set with a .424 average. USF held just a 16-12 lead before a 5-0 spurt and would end the set on a 9-2 run to win it easily.

The 'Dogs responded in the third set, which was the only set of the match with no ties or lead changes as Fresno State led for the duration. The Bulldogs jumped to a 3-0 lead and held a commanding 17-5 advantage, but San Francisco fought back to trail just 23-19. USF's comeback bid ran out of time as the 'Dogs closed on their third set point with a kill from Slover.

In a back-and-forth fourth set with 10 ties and seven lead changes, San Francisco led 24-21 before the 'Dogs tallied four straight points to reach a match point leading 25-24. USF answered with a kill to save match point and followed with two more kills to force the fifth.

Neither team led by more than two points in the fifth set. USF held a 12-11 lead before kills from Durr and Gilbert and a block from Watson and Gilbert gave Fresno State another match point at 14-12. USF got a kill to stay alive but, after a Fresno State timeout, Watson put down a kill to win it.

Quotes

Head Coach Jonathan Winder

On Saturday's match…
"I thought early on it was tough; it was an early match and there's a football game tonight, but about half way through it seemed like we showed up and the girls certainly fought a ton. They have shown great resilience and continue to stay together. Even when things weren't perfect we didn't fold and we kept coming back and playing hard."

On winning two straight matches after a loss on Thursday…
"The process that we talk a lot about is 'learn and prepare, learn and prepare, learn and prepare'. We prepared for that Thursday match, played it, and learned from it and prepared for the next one. We are continuing to learn a lot about our team and about what we need to do to win. Every match has been a little different but we've gotten a lot out of them and thankfully we've won a lot of these close ones."

Notes

The 'Dogs beat the Dons despite trailing in hitting percentage and having four less kills, outblocking USF 14.0-11.0 with an 88-72 advantage in digs.
Slover and Gilbert both averaged 3.00 kills per set or better for the tournament while Watson averaged 2.64 kills and 0.86 blocks per set hitting a sizzling .451. Halteman averaged 9.14 assists and 2.43 digs per set over the three matches.
Fresno State is 4-0 in five-set matches this season after tallying just two five-set wins all last year.
The 'Dogs have played at least four sets in six of their first seven matches of the season, playing a total of 31 sets for an average of 4.4 sets per match.
In the other match in the Fresno State Invitational on Saturday, Saint Mary's beat American 3-1. The Gaels won the tournament with a perfect 3-0 record.

What's Next
After four home matches in five days, Fresno State plays its next seven matches away from the Save Mart Center. The 'Dogs will head to Portland next weekend to take part in the Les Schwab West Coast Challenge, facing tournament host Portland State as well as Gonzaga on Friday before a matchup with Cal next Saturday.

Fresno State Invitational
Final Standings
1 – Saint Mary's (3-0) – Champion
T2 – Fresno State (2-1)
T2 – Cal Baptist (2-1)
4 – American (1-3)
5 – San Francisco (0-3)

All-Tournament Team
Lindsey Calvin, Saint Mary's – MVP
Kelsey Knudsen, Saint Mary's
Jessica Gilbert, Fresno State
Haile Watson, Fresno State
Tesa Oaks, Cal Baptist
Sydney Marks, Cal Baptist
Aleksandra Kazala, American
Sophie Sydenham, San Francisco

Note:
Fresno State and Cal Baptist did not play each other
Saint Mary's and San Francisco did not play each other

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