Phong Ly / The Collegian
The Fresno State Bulldogs, who struggled through their first home tournament of the season two weeks ago, came out on Friday night and appeared to be headed in the same direction again.
Hosting their second volleyball tournament of the season, the Bulldogs were defeated in straight-sets by No. 7 University of Southern California (USC). In losing their opening match to USC, the Bulldogs seemed to lack enough firepower to match that of their opponents. Although the girls showed a lot of spirit and feistiness in their game-play, their efforts were not enough to overcome the physical advantage that USC had over the ‘Dogs.
Captian Kelly Mason paced all Bulldogs with 11 digs. Another standout player was Freshman Korrin Wild, who collected 6 kills to go along with a team-high eight points.
Head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell wasn’t satisfied with her team’s performance against USC.
“I thought that the team played a really good match but just looked complacent losing to a really good team,” Netherby-Sewell said. “The upper classmen need to raise the bar when it comes to their competitive nature and should let it out more. We can’t expect the freshmen and sophomores to do everything for the team.”
After the match, Wild said there was room for improvement.
“I thought we played great, came out aggressive toward a great team but needed to work on our closing ability,” Wild said. “We needed to be more hungry toward the end of the sets but will come out tomorrow looking to be hungry for a win.”
Returning to action on Saturday afternoon, the ‘Dogs came ready to play and got a well needed victory against Sacramento State winning 3-2 in five sets. Junior Brianna Clarke had a team-high 12 kills and played with a lot of intensity. Sophomore Marissa Brand had the best game overall on the team with an impressive and skilled performance. Branded collected eight kills, three assists, 15 digs and a blocked shot. Brand quickly earned a lot of favor from the coaching staff.
In the second game of the day for Fresno State, they went out against CSU Bakersfield and easily dispatched them in straight-sets to finish the tournament with a winning record of 2-1.
Brianna Clarke had 13 kills and a blocked shot in the rout. Mason again led all Bulldog players with nine digs for the third straight game of the tournament. Overall, the Bulldogs played well in their second home tournament.
Netherby-Sewell thought that the team started off slow, but picked up the energy towards the end. Her squad was then able to harness and change that energy into aggressiveness that allowed them to become confident and finish strong.
The ‘Dogs begin Western Athletic Conference play this week when it hosts Idaho on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.