Utah State 3, Fresno State 2
Senior setter Chelsea Fowles had a career-high 17 digs and senior middle blocker Katie Astle tied a career-high with 10 blocks to lead Utah State to a hard-fought five-set win (25-13, 25-12, 21-25, 21-25, 15-12) here Saturday night against Fresno State in a key Western Athletic Conference match.
Utah State improves to 17-7 overall and 5-6 in WAC play with the win, while Fresno State falls to 10-13 on the season and 4-7 in league play with the loss.
Fowles (Hollister, Calif.) added a career-high tying eight blocks to go along with four kills and three service aces in the match for Utah State, while Astle (Sandy, Utah) added six kills. Junior outside hitter Liz McArthur (St. George, Utah) had a team-high 16 kills to go along with six digs, four blocks and three service aces, and sophomore outside hitter Josselyn White (Smithfield, Utah) had 10 kill, seven digs and five blocks. Senior middle blocker Shantell Durrant (American Fork, Utah) also played well for USU as she had nine blocks and four kills.
Utah State also got outstanding play from its back row as senior libero Christine Morrill (Neola, Utah) had 30 digs, while sophomore libero Laurel Bodily (Idaho Falls, Idaho) finished the match with 11 digs.
Utah State steamrolled Fresno State in the first two sets as it hit .375 (14-2-32) in set one and .190 (7-3-21) in set two, while FSU hit .083 (11-8-36) and negative .115 (7-10-26) in the first two sets. McArthur led USU with six kills in the opening set, to go along with three in set two. USU also posted seven service aces in the first two sets, including five in the second. In the second set, Utah State scored 14 of the final 17 points.
Fresno State bounced back to win the next two sets as it hit .143 (14-7-49) in the third set and .262 (18-7-42) in the fourth, while USU hit .174 (12-4-46) and .081 (8-5-37).
Utah State regrouped by scoring six of the first eight points in the fifth set and then finished with a 5-2 run to hold of for the five-sets win. USU hit .174 (8-4-23) in the fifth set and FSU hit .071 (7-5-28).
Utah State finished the match with a .195 (49-18-159) hitting percentage and Fresno State hit .110 (57-37-181). USU also had 9.5 more team blocks (21.0-11.5) and one more service ace (9-8) in the match, while FSU had seven more digs (81-74) and six more service errors (10-4).
Nevada 3, San Jose State 0
The University of Nevada (13-11, 7-4 WAC) volleyball team held on to defeat San Jose State (8-17, 3-8 WAC) in a Western Athletic Conference match 3-2 at Spartan Gym tonight. The Wolf Pack won the first two sets 25-16 and 25-22 but dropped the next two by scores of 25-23 and 25-19 before scoring a 15-11 set five victory to take the match 3-2. The win was the third win a row for the Pack and kept them in third place in the Western Athletic Conference standings with a 7-4 mark and is 13-11 on the season. SJSU fell to 3-8 in conference play and 8-17 on the season as the Pack swept the two regular season matches with the Spartans.
After SJSU won set four 25-19 to force a deciding fifth set the Pack jumped to a 4-1 lead in the final set only to have the Spartans close within a point on three occasions with the last being at 12-11. Nevada closed out the set and match with a 3-0 run with the last kill coming from senior Kylie Harrington of an assist from junior setter Tatiana Santiago. Freshman Grace Anxo had five kills in set five and Santiago 12 assists. The Pack hit .529 and SJSU .308 in the final set.
Nevada scored four unanswered points to break a 3-3 tie in the first set and move in front 7-3 on the way to the 25-16 victory. Senior middle blocker Lindsay Baldwin totaled five kills for the Pack, Santiago had nine assists and senior libero Nicole Link six digs in the first set. The Wolf Pack hit .333 and the Spartans .069 in set one.
There were eight ties and six lead changes in the second set but the Pack went on to win 25-22 to take a 2-0 advantage in the match. With the Pack trailing 21-19 Harrington served five consecutive points to move Nevada in front 23-21. With the Wolf Pack on top 24-22 Baldwin and junior Erin Garvey combined to block SJSU's Taylor Japhet to seal the victory. Anxo led the team with five kills in the set and Santiago recorded 11 assists. Nevada hit .233 and the Spartans .129 in set two.
SJSU led set three early at 7-3 but Nevada tied the score at 18-18. The eighth tie of the set came at 23-23 but the Spartans scored the final two points to win the set 25-23 and cut Nevada's lead to 2-1 in the match. Anxo again led the team with six kills in the set and Santiago totaled 13 assists. The Pack hit .242 and SJSU .344 in set three.
The Wolf Pack trailed in set four early only to forge a tie at 19-19 but the Spartans closed out the set on a 6-0 run to win 25-19 which evened the match at two sets each. Nevada would go on to win the deciding fifth set 15-11 to take the match 3-2. SJSU's Hanah Blume served the final five points of the set four. Harrington had four kills in set four to top the Wolf Pack and Santiago 11 assists. The Pack hit .242 and SJSU .344 in set four.
Anxo led four Nevada players in double figures with a career and match-high 18 kills along with hitting .412. Harrington and Baldwin had 13 kills each while Garvey totaled 10. Santiago finished with a match-high 56 assists and Link had a match-high 19 digs.
SJSU also had four players in double figures with Japhet leading the way with 14 kills and added 16 digs to post a double-double. Blume (13), Alex Akana (11) and Kylie Miraldi (10) also had double figures in kills. Setter Caitlin Andrade dished out 45 assists. Katie Turner and Courtney Zellmer had 11 and 10 digs respectively.
The Pack hit .293 in the match and SJSU .234. Both teams had nine blocks on the night. Baldwin led Nevada with six blocks and Akana tallied five for the Spartans.
Houston Baptist 3, Louisiana Tech 1
The Louisiana Tech volleyball team was upended by Houston Baptist in four sets (14-25, 19-25, 25-19, 18-25) Saturday afternoon at the Sharp Gym.
Tech was outhit .168 to .102 while Kara Jones led the Lady Techsters with nine kills.
Louisiana Tech was unable to effectively pass the ball in the first two sets as HBU held the Techsters to a -.083 and .100 attack efficiency in each respective set.
Down two sets coming out of the break, the Lady Techsters picked up the tempo on offense by hitting at a .400 clip as a team. With the set tied at 15 points apiece, Tech went on a 10-4 scoring run led by multiple kills from Jones to force a fourth set.
This afternoon's match marks the first time this season that the Lady Techsters have forced a fourth set after trailing 2-0 after the break.
Unfortunately, Louisiana Tech was unable to carry the momentum into the fourth set.
Trading points back-and-forth and knotting the score at 12 apiece, the Huskies put together a 13-6 scoring run that proved too much for Tech to handle.