Fresno State 3, San Jose State 1
Fresno State's stretch drive to qualifying for November's WAC Volleyball Tournament began with a key 3-1 road win (25-19, 25-16, 17-25 and 25-21) at San Jose State on Saturday afternoon.
Fresno State (9-11, 3-5 WAC) improved to 2-1 on their current four-match road trip and added their second consecutive road win to their resume.
Korrin Wild, a freshman from Sanger, Calif., provided one of her most dynamic matches of the season for the Dogs and led the way with a career-best 17 kills.
Senior Kelly Mason, one of the team's captains, made a match-high 18 digs and sophomore Marissa Brand notched her eighth double-double of the season on 14 kills and 17 digs to continue her chase for the WAC lead in double-doubles.
In the opening set, the Bulldogs' offensive explosiveness and gritty effort powered Fresno State to a 25-19 first set win. Wild's aggressive fire smoldered the Spartans in the opening set behind eight kills with no attacking errors while she recorded an impressive .615 percent attack efficiency. Brand, Clarke and Horton also delivered devastating kills to give the Dogs the early lead.
The dominating performance continued into the second set as Fresno State quickly jumped ahead 8-1 and extended their lead to 17-7 before finishing the back-to-back set victories with a 25-16 win. The 2-0 lead at the break marked the fifth time this season the Dogs won the first two sets of a match.
The Spartans regrouped in the locker room and picked up their fight en route to a 25-17 victory in the third set to cut the Bulldogs edge to 2-1.
The competitive battle inside Spartan Gym moved to a critical fourth set where the passion and attitude turned up the heat of the overcast Bay Area afternoon.
Wild's fight, Brand's power and the athleticism of the talented Bulldog roster stayed focused and pulled away for a 25-21 win in set four and earn the triumph.
Hawai‘i 3, Boise State 0
The No. 4 University of Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (18-1, 8-0 WAC) swept through the Boise State Broncos (17-8, 4-5) 25-13, 25-23 and 25-20 in their last WAC match at Bronco Gym Saturday.
Hometown girl Brittany Hewitt had a great all-around match, hitting .429 with eight kills, six blocks and a career-high six digs. Kanani Danielson had 14 kills while Chanteal Satele hit .316 with 10 kills and eight digs. Emily Hartong had a great match as well, hitting .625 with six kills and four blocks.
Hawai‘i took control early, jumping ahead 14-2 on an eight-point run coming off the serve of Dani Mafua. A 6-2 BSU run got them back within single digits at 18-10. The Broncos kept the difference around eight points until the Rainbow Wahine ran off the final four points, taking the first set 25-13 on a pipe-set kill by Danielson that ricocheted off a Bronco defender’s chest and flew all the way across the net and past the end line.
Boise State started the second set much better, taking an early 12-8 lead, forcing Dave Shoji to take a timeout. Hawai‘i came out of the break with four-straight points to tie it at 12-12. The Broncos took back the lead and got it to 18-15, before a timely three-point run tied it again at 18-18. After a BSU point, UH ran off four in a row to go ahead 22-19. The Broncos pulled within a point on a few occasions. But Danielson kept giving Hawai‘i the answer, taking it 25-23 on her ninth kill of the match.
BSU again started out well in the third set, jumping ahead 9-5. Hawai‘i battled back, tying it at 12-12 before taking the lead at 19-15 on a five-point run on the serve of Elizabeth Ka‘aihue. The Broncos got back within two points at 22-20 before
Nevada 3, Louisiana Tech 0
University of Nevada (11-11, 5-4 WAC) freshman Grace Anxo's 13 kills helped the Wolf Pack volleyball team sweep Louisiana Tech (10-14, 0-9 WAC) in a Western Athletic Conference match Saturday night at the Virginia Street Gym before 422 fans. The Pack won by scores of 25-20, 25-20 and 25-22 to even their overall record at 11-11 and improve to 5-4 in WAC play. The Lady Techsters fell to 10-14 on the season a remained winless in conference play at 0-9.
With the first set tied for the fifth and final time at 7-7 the Pack scored the next three points and went on to win 25-20. Anxo and Lindsay Baldwin had five kills each in the first set while setter Tatiana Santiago had 13 assists. Nevada hit .250 and LA Tech .184 in set one.
Nevada led by five points early at 8-3 but the Lady Techsters tied the score at 10-10. The Pack regained control with a 5-0 run to break the tie, which proved to be the final difference at 25-20. Anxo again had five kills and junior Erin Garvey added four. Freshman setter Dana Holt came off the bench and had nine assists. Both squad's hit well as Nevada had .433 attack percentage and LA Tech .393.
There were 15 ties and nine lead changes in set three as the Pack rallied for the 25-22 win and 3-0 match victory. Trailing 21-19 Nevada closed out the set and match with a 6-1 run down the stretch. Senior Kylie Harrington had five kills and Baldwin four in the final set of the night. Santiago totaled 11 assist in set four.
Anxo's 13 kills led three Pack players in double figure kills with Baldwin and Harrington having 11 and 10 respectively. Santiago finished with a match-high 30 assists and Holt had 10. Harrington just missed a double-double as she had a team-high nine digs.
Clara Vido topped the Lady Techsters with 12 kills and setter Bianca Bin had 27 assists. Lori Hunsucker's 10 digs were a match-high.
Nevada hit a season-high .301 in the match and LA Tech posted a .184 attack percentage. The Lady Techsters had seven blocks and Nevada six. Garvey topped the Pack with three blocks and Gabryel Ording had four for LA Tech.
New Mexico State 3, Utah State 0
The New Mexico State volleyball team cruised to its seventh consecutive victory with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-21) win at Utah State inside the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum Saturday night.
After the win, the Aggies improve to 9-1 in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and 15-9 overall; setting up a battle for the conference lead next week at league leader Hawai'i. Utah State falls to 3-5 in the conference and 15-6 on the season after the loss.
NM State hit .444 against Utah State recording 54 kills against 12 errors. On the other side of the net, Utah State posted 41 kills versus 14 miscues. The Aggies notched 40 digs while USU tallied 25.
"We were very good offensively tonight for sure," head coach Mike Jordan said. "Both teams hit a pretty good percentage; we just hit it a little bit better. (Gutierrez) bounced back tonight and showed some toughness with some really good swings at the ball tonight."
Junior Jennah DeVries tallied a match-high 47 assists while adding four kills and eight digs. Senior Kayleigh Giddens led the team in kills with 17. Freshman Rocio Gutierrez added 12 kills as did junior Kelsey Brennan. Junior libero Kelsi Phillips and Gutierrez led the defense with a match-high 10 digs each. As a result, Gutierrez recorded her second double-double of the year.
NM State did not lead until 15-14 in the first set but was able to hold off Utah State the rest of the way for the 25-23 win. The home team jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead and held onto it until midway through the set. Neither team led by more than two points the rest of the way, but the Aggies won three of the final four points to win the set. NM State powered 20 kills through the USU blockers. Giddens led the Aggies with six kills in the set. NM State hit a scorching .432 while committing just four errors. Utah State tallied 15 kills and made only three miscues to hit .353.
Freshman Rocio Gutierrez led NM State offense in set two with six kills including four as part of the Aggies' first six points and capped off the set with a final kill for the 25-18 victory. NM State jumped out to a 5-2 lead behind Gutierrez. However, USU fought back to tie the set at 7-7. The northern Aggies led 13-10 midway through the set but NM State caught fire with two 4-0 runs to build its largest lead of the match at 21-16. The Aggies finished the set off by winning four of the final six points. The Crimson and White continued to hit the ball with authority, boasting an impressive .481 percentage in the stanza. Giddens added five kills while NM State out-blocked USU 3-2.5 at the net. USU hit .250 in the set with 12 kills against five errors.
In the third set, both teams led by no more than two points until NM State took a lead at 17-14 as part of a crucial 4-0 run. Utah State would not recover as the Aggies closed out the match by winning five of the final eight points. The Aggies hit well again in the third set at .429. NM State powered down 19 kills versus four late errors. USU hit .235 with 14 kills and six errors.
Shay Sorensen and Liz McArthur led the northern Aggies with 10 kills apiece in the match while Christine Morrill topped the Utah State defense with five digs.