Fresno State Athletics
Thursday, February 18
Fresno, CA
1 P.M. PT
Fresno State
2-1, 2-1MW
3
vs
0
San Jose State
1-4, 1-4MW
1
2
3
F
San Jose State
23
22
21
0
Fresno State
25
25
25
3
Photo by: Cary Edmondson
Bulldogs sweep Spartans in home opener
2/18/2021 5:15:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The Fresno State volleyball team got its home slate started on Thursday afternoon with a sweep over San Jose State at the Save Mart Center.
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State volleyball team got its home slate started on Thursday afternoon with a sweep over San Jose State at the Save Mart Center.
With a balanced offense that saw three 'Dogs finish with nine kills apiece, Fresno State (2-1, 2-1 MW) hit .215 as a team compared to .059 for San Jose State (1-4, 1-4 MW) as the 'Dogs won sets 25-23, 25-22, 25-21.
Coming into the match with her previous high being four assists, senior Amilya Thompson totaled 17 assists in the match as the Bulldogs finished with 32 as a team with Julia Handy adding seven and Jocelyn Rodriguez tacking on six.
Rodriguez led the 'Dogs with 18 digs and Grace Doyle had a team-high three blocks assists.
How It Happened
Getting off to a slow start, the Bulldogs fell behind 20-15 in the first set before reeling off a 6-1 run to tie the set at 21-21. A kill by Doyle tied the set at 22 and with the Spartans knotting the set up at 23, kills by Savanah Smith and Amaria Kelley gave the 'Dogs the opening set win (watch).
The second set saw an even 15-15 draw to start before the Spartans reeled off four straight points. The 'Dogs responded with three of their own to force a San Jose State timeout. A service ace by Rodriguez tied the set at 20 and a kill from Smith pushed the 'Dogs lead to 22-20 as the set closed with a service error, ace by Thompson and an attack error (watch).
The 'Dogs completed the sweep in the third set with a 25-21 win as Desiree Sukhov closed out the set with her ninth kill of the match (watch) to match Kelley and Smith on the afternoon in the kill column.
Notables
Head Coach Jonathan Winder
On getting ready for the spring volleyball season....
"Completely wild, it has been a little bit of a roller coaster with starting, stopping and starting slower than usual with all the reconditioning with all the long breaks in between. We have started slow, we are starting to get going a little bit, but it is still so early in the season we have really only been playing six-on-six volleyball for three or four weeks now so it has been a little bit unique."
On setters Amilya Thompson and Julia Handy...
"Amilya is a great volleyball and Julia is a great volleyball player, great teammate. We have a ton of good volleyball players on the team and we felt like this was a lineup that gave us some more arms and some more blocking and just some more volleyball players out there and it was something that is good for us."
On the sweep....
"That is what we were looking for and you can see almost even distribution with everybody at the pins. The good thing about a 6-2 is you get a little more balance."
On playing the same opponent two days in a row...
"We will watch some film tonight and get ready to go tomorrow. I think it has been okay, the travel was easier when we went down to San Diego last weekend because you do not have to fly in between. It is nice from a preparation standpoint, you just have one team to worry about so we watch film early in the week and hone in one opponent so the challenge for us learning from last weekend when we won the first match and then had the second match so how can we apply these lessons we learned from last weekend and be a little bit better the second time out because I am sure they will respond better."
Up next
The Bulldogs and Spartans close out their two-match series on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Save Mart Center.
"Fresno State Athletics: The Pride of the Valley"" – The Bulldog Foundation creates championship experiences for Fresno State student-athletes as they strive for excellence in the classroom, in competition, and in life. To become a BDF member, please call 559-278-7160.
Follow us on:
Twitter:Â @FresnoStateVB
Instagram:Â FresnoStatevball
Facebook:Â FresnoStateVB
Â
With a balanced offense that saw three 'Dogs finish with nine kills apiece, Fresno State (2-1, 2-1 MW) hit .215 as a team compared to .059 for San Jose State (1-4, 1-4 MW) as the 'Dogs won sets 25-23, 25-22, 25-21.
Coming into the match with her previous high being four assists, senior Amilya Thompson totaled 17 assists in the match as the Bulldogs finished with 32 as a team with Julia Handy adding seven and Jocelyn Rodriguez tacking on six.
Rodriguez led the 'Dogs with 18 digs and Grace Doyle had a team-high three blocks assists.
How It Happened
Getting off to a slow start, the Bulldogs fell behind 20-15 in the first set before reeling off a 6-1 run to tie the set at 21-21. A kill by Doyle tied the set at 22 and with the Spartans knotting the set up at 23, kills by Savanah Smith and Amaria Kelley gave the 'Dogs the opening set win (watch).
The second set saw an even 15-15 draw to start before the Spartans reeled off four straight points. The 'Dogs responded with three of their own to force a San Jose State timeout. A service ace by Rodriguez tied the set at 20 and a kill from Smith pushed the 'Dogs lead to 22-20 as the set closed with a service error, ace by Thompson and an attack error (watch).
The 'Dogs completed the sweep in the third set with a 25-21 win as Desiree Sukhov closed out the set with her ninth kill of the match (watch) to match Kelley and Smith on the afternoon in the kill column.
Notables
- The Bulldogs won their home opener for the fourth time in the last five seasons joining wins in 2016, 2017 & 2018.
- It was Fresno State's first win at home over San Jose State since Oct. 4, 2014 snapping a three-match losing skid.
Head Coach Jonathan Winder
On getting ready for the spring volleyball season....
"Completely wild, it has been a little bit of a roller coaster with starting, stopping and starting slower than usual with all the reconditioning with all the long breaks in between. We have started slow, we are starting to get going a little bit, but it is still so early in the season we have really only been playing six-on-six volleyball for three or four weeks now so it has been a little bit unique."
On setters Amilya Thompson and Julia Handy...
"Amilya is a great volleyball and Julia is a great volleyball player, great teammate. We have a ton of good volleyball players on the team and we felt like this was a lineup that gave us some more arms and some more blocking and just some more volleyball players out there and it was something that is good for us."
On the sweep....
"That is what we were looking for and you can see almost even distribution with everybody at the pins. The good thing about a 6-2 is you get a little more balance."
On playing the same opponent two days in a row...
"We will watch some film tonight and get ready to go tomorrow. I think it has been okay, the travel was easier when we went down to San Diego last weekend because you do not have to fly in between. It is nice from a preparation standpoint, you just have one team to worry about so we watch film early in the week and hone in one opponent so the challenge for us learning from last weekend when we won the first match and then had the second match so how can we apply these lessons we learned from last weekend and be a little bit better the second time out because I am sure they will respond better."
Up next
The Bulldogs and Spartans close out their two-match series on Friday at 6 p.m. at the Save Mart Center.
"Fresno State Athletics: The Pride of the Valley"" – The Bulldog Foundation creates championship experiences for Fresno State student-athletes as they strive for excellence in the classroom, in competition, and in life. To become a BDF member, please call 559-278-7160.
Follow us on:
Twitter:Â @FresnoStateVB
Instagram:Â FresnoStatevball
Facebook:Â FresnoStateVB
Â
Team Stats
SJ
FS
Kills
30
36
Errors
24
13
Attempts
101
107
Hitting %
.059
.215
Points
39.0
46.0
Assists
27
32
Aces
6
5
Blocks
3.0
5.0
Game Leaders
Kills
9
Aces
2
Blocks
1
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
S
/ Women's VolleyballOH
/ Women's Volleyball
L/DS
/ Women's VolleyballOH
/ Women's VolleyballOH
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
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