After snapping its three-game winning streak with a loss to UNLV, the Fresno State volleyball team needed only three sets to knock off San Diego State on Saturday.
The sweep was the Bulldogs’ ninth of the season and first at home since Oct. 12 against Nevada.
“I’m really impressed with how poised we were after a rough Thursday night,” said Fresno State coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell. “We came back and played smart and consistent.”
One area that saw improvement in this game was hitting. The Bulldogs hit .358 overall, with jun-ior middle blocker Maci Murdock leading the team individually with .474. Korrin Wild had 16 kills and 10 digs in the contest en route to her 38th career double-double.
Junior setter Christina Lee assisted 79 percent of the team’s total kills. Defensively, she led the team with 14 digs.
“Christina Lee is the big difference between our game against UNLV and [Saturday’s],” Netherby-Sewell said. “She set our hitters and kept them in tempo.”
Maintaining a tempo was something the Bulldogs needed to do in order to win the game. Set 1 was a back-and-forth matchup, as San Diego State showed a no-quit attitude. The shootout went beyond the 25-point total needed to win. A Wild kill followed by an Aztec attack error gave Fresno State a 30-28 victory.
“We just couldn’t side out at the end [of Set 1], and it was really frustrating,” Netherby-Sewell said. “We were making easy shots, and I like us to be really aggressive in those moments.”
Set 2 saw the aggression Netherby-Sewell was looking for. Fresno State mounted a 6-3 lead and, with the exception of a brief 7-7 tie, kept the lead throughout the set. Wild and Marissa Brand had 6 kills in the frame, and the team hit .425. Brand’s sixth kill in the set ended it at 25-18.
The Bulldogs scored four consecutive points to start Set 3 and never looked back. The lead increased to 15-9 before San Diego State called a timeout. The Aztecs did come close afterward and scored eight points, but the Bulldogs had 10 of their own during that stretch and finished the sweep with a 25-18 victory.
Up next for Fresno State is a road trip to Boise State on Thursday, then to Utah State on Saturday.