'Dogs give Pack fits before loss

By Darrell Copeland III
The Collegian

Not many folks in the volleyball world expected Fresno State to be able to compete with Nevada, so the Bulldogs thought they’d throw a wrinkle into Saturday’s match.

The 3-15 Bulldogs pushed the predicted-to-finish-third Wolf Pack to match point twice before finally succumbing to the superior Nevada attack 32-34, 30-23, 13-30, 30-20 and 16-18.

Sure, it was surprising the Bulldogs had themselves in that position to begin with, but when they lost the chance for victory, it became disappointing — at least to Fresno State coach Ruben Nieves.

“I think a lot of people go ‘wow, Fresno State played so well to be in this match,’ but it’s disappointing not to win it at home,” Nieves said.

Fresno State players Angela Wiggins and Jamie Temperino echoed those sentiments, but came away feeling good about the team’s effort against the heavily favored Wolf Pack.

“Honestly, I thought we played really well,” Wiggins said. “We came out tonight and gave it our all. I would feel worse about losing if we didn’t play well, but since we actually played our heart out, it’s not as bad as it could be.”

Coming out of its break between games two and three, the Bulldogs looked very flat and were almost run out of the Save Mart Center by Nevada, but a key ingredient reemerged for Nieves’ team — heart.

The Bulldogs answered back the 13-30 loss in game three by returning the favor 30-20 in game four. In fact, despite the loss to the Wolf Pack, the Bulldogs arguably played a better overall match, but inexperience once again bit Fresno State.

Still, Nieves’ young Bulldogs played with the heart and desire that has become a staple of the team this season.

“Our team has a lot of heart, a lot of heart,” Wiggins said. “We weren’t gonna give up and roll over and just give it to them — because we’ve done that too many times.”

“There was no way we were gonna give up,” Temperino said.

Comment on this story in the Sports forum >>