The Fresno State women’s volleyball team fell in straight sets to New Mexico 3-0 on Saturday at Save Mart Center.
With the win, the Lobos swept the season series against the ‘Dogs.
“New Mexico is a tough matchup for us,” Bulldogs’ head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell said. “They don’t make a lot of errors, so the pressure is on us to get the job done. We actually played well. We had one of our better offensive matches, out blocked them and the score was close in each set. I thought we served tough and did the best we could from the service line, but unfortunately New Mexico just played better than we did.”
The starters for the ‘Dogs (14-15, 6-9 MW) in the match were senior Zana Bowens, juniors Brooke Legaux and Maggie Eppright, sophomores Carly Scarbrough and Lauren Torres and freshman Gertu Vider.
In the first set, the ‘Dogs took the lead early, but the Lobos (14-13, 7-7 MW) battled back to take the lead 13-11.
The ‘Dogs and Lobos would go back and forth throughout the entire first set as there were three lead changes and 10 ties.
Fresno State tied things up once again 23-23, only to see the first set slip away to New Mexico, 25-23.
The second set between the conference rivals was closer than the first as the ‘Dogs jumped out to a lead of 10-7 to only see it disappear as the Lobos went on an 8-2 run to take a 15-12 lead.
The ‘Dogs found themselves in a tie with the Lobos 24-24, and once again the Lobos took advantage and put the second set away, winning 26-24.
Set 3 featured another highly contested bout. The ‘Dogs had an early lead of 10-7 only to let it gradually slip away as the Lobos tied things up once again 17-17.
New Mexico went on a 3-0 run to take the lead 20-17. The ‘Dogs fought, but it was not enough as the Lobos held onto the lead and finished off the ‘Dogs for good to clinch the 3-0 sweep.
Scarbrough led the way with 12 kills on 31 attempts , 21 total assists and 12.5 points credited to her.
Up next for the ‘Dogs will be their final home game against Wyoming on Wednesday, in which seniors Jelena Jovanovic and Bowens will be honored as part of Senior Night.
“Zana has been great for us, and Jelena has really stepped it up this season,” Netherby-Sewell added. “Senior Night is always special, and it’s nice to honor them, but it’s going to be down to business for us. We’re going to treat it like any other night. We haven’t seen Wyoming yet this season, and they struggle on the road, so we’re looking to take advantage of that.”
