Volleyball keeps UTEP winless in WAC play

By Darrell Copeland

The Fresno State women’s volleyball team beat UTEP (30-10, 23-30, 30-23, 30-25)—a team riding a 10 match losing streak going into Saturday.

The Bulldogs, second in the WAC standings to Hawaii, opened the match with four consecutive points off the serve of senior Carrie Hartt, who served 12 of the 30 points in the game.

Hartt, along with junior Kristen Fenton, combined for nine of the Bulldogs’ 16 kills in the game along with a hitting percentage of .609.

The Bulldogs looked very impressive defensively in game one, tallying four total team blocks and holding the Miners to a miniscule .154 hitting percentage.

Fresno State held UTEP to 10 points in game one, good enough for the all-time lowest score by a Miners team since the rally-scoring format was implemented in 2001.

The score excludes game fives, which only requires 15 points to earn a victory.

The Bulldogs received little resistance from the Miners, who miss-hit balls all around the court and even sailed a few into the crowd.

“ If they weren’t going to challenge us, we needed to put them down further,” Hartt said.

Game two featured a bit of role reversal for the Bulldogs and Miners.

In game two, the Bulldogs managed to do anything and everything to keep the Miners in it.

UTEP made nine errors in game one and made seven in game two, while Fresno State committed just two in the first game and a whopping 12 in the second game.

“ I just think our defense let down,” Fenton said. “We weren’t getting our feet in position.”

The win in game two was the first in 15 games for the Miners, the last one coming in a five-game loss at Rice Oct. 2.

After a whirlwind performance in the first two games, Fresno State regained its solid base of defense and efficiency in the second two.

Behind early in the game at 5-8, the Bulldogs pulled in front of the Miners with four straight points coming from the serve of senior Stefanie Taelman.

The Bulldogs slowly pulled away from UTEP, finishing the game with a .436 hitting percentage and only two errors.

In game four, neither team seemed to want to pull away from the other, as the two schools dueled back and forth with five lead changes and nine ties. Fresno State and UTEP combined for 17 errors in the game and hitting percentages of .194 and .024, respectively.

With the Bulldogs down 20-21, Carrie Hartt’s kill off a slide ignited a 10-4 run to give Fresno State the game and match.

“ The third and fourth game, [UTEP] brought their game,” Hartt said. “Overall, I’m pleased with how we came out,” Hartt added.

Fresno State will head back on the road this week as it travels to Louisiana Tech and SMU to take on two teams from the WAC’s Eastern division.