'Dogs travel to No. 15 Colorado State & Wyoming

Thursday, October 10

Fort Collins, CO

6:00 PM PT

Fresno State

No. 15 Colorado State

Photo by: Keith Kountz

'Dogs travel to No. 15 Colorado State & Wyoming

10/8/2019 4:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Fresno State Notes (PDF)Colorado State Release Wyoming Notes (PDF)Mountain West Weekly Release (PDF)

By: Travis Blanshan / Assistant Director of Communications

FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State volleyball team heads out on the road this week taking on No. 15 Colorado State on Thursday and Wyoming on Saturday.

Fresno State at No. 15 Colorado State
Oct. 10, 2019 • 6:00 PM PT • Moby Arena (8,475) • Fort Collins, Colo.
Watch: Mountain West Network
Live: Live Stats • Live Updates on Twitter (@FresnoStateVB)
Series History: CSU leads 15-9
Streak: CSU W 1
Last: CSU 3-0 (10/27/18)

Fresno State at Wyoming
Oct. 12, 2019 • 12:00 PM PT • UniWyo Sports Complex (1,200) • Laramie, Wyo.
Watch: Mountain West Network
Live: Live Stats • Live Updates on Twitter (@FresnoStateVB)
Series History: Wyoming leads 16-14
Streak: FS W4
Last: FS 3-1 (10/25/18)

Bulldog Bones

Fresno State hits the road this week traveling to No. 15 Colorado State & Wyoming.
The 'Dogs split two home matches last week sweeping New Mexico & falling in five sets to UNLV.
Fresno State is 0-7 at Colorado State and 2-3 at Wyoming since moving to the MW in 2012.
The Bulldogs had their five-match winning streak, all by sweep, come to an end against the Rebels.
The Rams visit Fresno on Nov. 7 while the Cowgirls come two days later on Nov. 9.

By The Numbers
30 - Digs by Reagan Leonard against UNLV on Saturday to set a new season high.
40 - Kills by Desiree Sukhov last week in a pair of matches totaling 18 against New Mexico & 22 vs. UNLV.
1 - Where Sukhov ranks in the MW in kills, kills per set, points, points per set.

Scouting No. 15 Colorado State (14-1, 4-0 MW)

Colorado State comes into Thursday's match on a 13-match winning streak and ranked No. 15 in the nation sweeping nine opponents. The Rams' lone loss on the season came on Aug. 31 against No. 16 Cal in four sets.
CSU is 7-1 at home and off to a 4-0 start in Mountain West play picking up wins over New Mexico, UNLV, Wyoming and Air Force.
The Rams lead the MW in blocks per set (3.08/2nd nationally), hitting percentage (.274) & opponent hitting percentage (.101).
Colorado State, the MW preseason favorite, has claimed 15 MW regular season titles since 2000 and made 30 NCAA Tournament appearances in program history.

Scouting Wyoming (8-7, 3-1 MW)

Wyoming is 8-7 on the season with a 3-1 mark in Mountain West play.
The Cowgirls, who have five-set MW wins over UNLV, New Mexico and Air Force, are 5-1 at home with their lone loss coming in five sets to Colorado State on Oct. 1.
Wyoming, picked to finish second in the MW preseason poll, rank third in the MW in total blocks (145.0), fourth in attacks (2,112) and are fifth in digs (855) and kills (742).
Junior middle blocker Jackie McBride ranks second in the MW in total blocks (80) while senior defensive specialist Madi Fields is third in digs (268/4.32 per set).
Wyoming is led by seventh-year head coach Chad Callihan and went 20-11 in 2018.

First Things First

Fresno State has won the first set in 10 of its 16 matches of the year.
The Bulldogs are 8-2 this year when winning the first set but 2-4 when losing it.

'Dogs vs. Nationally Ranked Opponents

The 'Dogs will play their first nationally-ranked opponent in No. 15 Colorado State on Thursday since Nov. 15, 2017 when they were swept at then-No. 24 CSU in Fort Collins.
It will be the 'Dogs highest-ranked opponent since Nov. 21, 2015 when the Bulldogs were swept at then-No. 13 CSU.
Fresno State is 0-13 since 2010 against ranked opponents with its last six ranked opponents all being Colorado State.
The 'Dogs have been swept by their last nine ranked opponents and last won a set against a nationally-ranked foe on Nov. 22, 2011 against then-No. 6 Hawai'i at the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas.

Sweep happy

The Bulldogs saw their five-match winning streak, all by sweeps, come to an end on Saturday falling in five sets to UNLV.
Six of the 'Dogs 10 victories this season have come by sweep.
The 'Dogs five-match winning streak matched their longest from 2018 when they defeated UNLV, New Mexico, Nevada, San Jose State and Wyoming from Oct. 11-25.

3-0 start to Mountain West play

For a second straight season, Fresno State started conference play with a 3-0 start before suffering their first loss to UNLV.
The 'Dogs best start to MW play came in 2018 when they started the season 4-0.
It is the first time since moving to the MW in 2012 the 'Dogs have played three of their first four conference contests at home.

Des Delivers

In her first season with the Bulldogs, junior Desiree Sukhov leads the Mountain West with 4.23 kills and 4.80 points per set.
Sukhov's 4.23 kills ranks 31st in NCAA Div. I and has led the team in kills in 13 of 16 matches this year.
In the 'Dogs five-set win over Santa Clara on Sept. 6, Sukhov tallied 30 kills, tied for the fourth most kills in a match in program history and the most since Korrin Wild had 31 kills in a match in 2012.

Ms. 3000

Madelyn Halteman, the longest tenured Bulldog and the lone fifth-year senior on the 2019 roster, became just the fifth player in program history to record 3,000 career assists as she reached the plateau during the second set against CSU Bakersfield on Sept. 5.
Halteman ranks 4th in program history in career assists and her current total of 3,470 and is four shy of third place (Robyn Keune - 3,474).
Halteman was an All-MW selection last year ranking second in the MW with 9.88 assists per set, and so far this season she is averaging 10.32 assists per set.

Sabbatini breaks out

After playing in only four sets prior to the Roadrunner Classic, redshirt freshman outside hitter Lauren Sabbatini tallied 26 kills in nine sets going for nine kills against UC Davis and CSU Bakersfield and added eight kills vs. San Francisco.
She followed up her breakout performance with two more standout performances totaling 13 kills against Nevada (Sept. 26) and added 10 against San Jose State (Sept. 28).
She tallied nine kills apiece against both New Mexico (Oct. 3) & UNLV (Oct. 5).

Aces Advantage

Fresno State ranks first in the MW with 1.67 service aces per set while having more aces than its opponent in 11 of 16 matches with a 95-59 edge in aces for the year.\
Halteman leads the team with 21 aces while Jocelyn Rodriguez and Sukhov has added 16 apiece.
The 'Dogs had a season-high 11 aces in the win over Santa Clara, just two shy of the program five-set match record.

New Kid on the Block

Freshman Grace Doyle recorded a career high and team season-high nine blocks in Fresno State's win over South Dakota State on Sept. 13.
Doyle added 12 blocks in three matches at the Roadrunner Classic and leads the team with 57 on the season.
The nine blocks were the most in a match by a Bulldog since Jessica Gilbert had 11 blocks at UNLV last November.

Digs all Around

A big factor in Fresno State's defensive success has been depth in digging helping the squad rank second in the MW in digs per set at 15.35.
Reagan Leonard leads the way with 4.74 digs per set to rank first in the MW.
Leonard moved into eighth place in program history in digs on Saturday against UNLV and now is 121 shy of seventh place (Korrin Wild - 1,203).

Up next
The 'Dogs return home on Monday evening to host San Diego State (9-6, 2-2 MW) at the Save Mart Center at 6 p.m. for High School Night.

-- For the full news and notes release, click on the Fresno State Notes link at the top of the page.

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