'Dogs Bites

Volleyball winless on road trip

After losing its conference opener to New Mexico State, the Bulldogs traveled to Louisiana Tech. Fresno State lost the first two games before winning the third but eventually fell to Louisiana Tech: 30-19, 30-24, 29-31, 30-27.

The Bulldogs dished out 63 assists, compared Louisiana Tech’s 53 but the edge didn’t matter much as the Techsters capitalized with a .228 hitting percentage.

Fresno State led most of the statistical categories, including kills, digs and service aces but the most glaring statistic was the Bulldogs’ 42 attack errors compared to Louisiana Tech’s 17.

Alison Pitton, who entered the match in game two, led the Bulldogs with 19 kills.

Louisiana Tech was in control through both of the first two games of the match. Fresno State was never able to regain momentum in the first match after taking the first point.

The third game was far more competitive and Fresno State was able to pull out a close 31-29 win.

Fresno State will look to rebound at home next Wednesday against Utah State. The Bulldogs get a quick respite in the North Gym, playing at 7 p.m. before traveling to Honolulu to face WAC powerhouse Hawaii on Friday night. That match will be Fresno State's fourth against a ranked opponent this season. Fresno State previously played three ranked opponents at the Santa Clara Invitational.

Five cross country runners set personal best in 5K race

The Bulldogs placed eighth out of 14 teams as five runners set personal records and two others had their best times of the season at the UC Riverside Agricultural Operations Course.

Junior Andrea Buckner finished 10th among the 92 runners in the meet. With a personal-best mark of 18:11.2, she posted the program's 18th-best all-time 5K mark. In addition, junior Zinzi Evans also clocked a career-best time of 18:32.6 to finish 16th overall.

Last year, both Buckner and Evans had set personal-best marks at Riverside. Buckner ran a then career-best mark of 18:18 while Evans had a then personal-best of 18:59.

Freshman Roxanne Sellick and sophomore Marina Santana were the next two to finish the race.

Sellick, who ran while sick, finished 59th overall but still had a personal-best 5K time of 19:46.1.

Santana, who sat out last week's meet at Stanford with a stomach strain, clocked a season-best mark of 20:06.4 to finish 66th overall.

CSU Fullerton won the meet with 96 points as Fresno State tallied 219 points among the 14-team field.

Head coach Joe Gonzales will conduct more intense workouts during this next bye week in preparation for the Cal Poly Invitational.

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