FRESNO, Calif. ? In a battle of two teams playing their first matches of the season, the Fresno State volleyball team made fewer errors and survived more rallies down the stretch to pull out a 23?25, 33?31, 20?25, 25?17, 15?12 win over visiting CSUB Friday night at the Save Mart Center in Fresno.
The match was the second match of the Fresno State Invitational. Saint Mary's College defeated UC Davis in the opener.
Senior outside hitter Sarah Norman (Stockdale HS) led CSUB with 18 kills. Senior libero Mystie McNaughton (Stockdale HS) added 33 digs, just three off her career high. CSUB's best player in the match arguably was junior setter Barbie Thistle (Bakersfield HS), who chipped in 48 assists, 12 digs and five kills in her first match for the Roadrunners after transferring from Fairfield University.
Brianna Clarke led all attackers with 19 kills for Fresno State. Tairyn Rassmussen added 17 kills for the Bulldogs.
CSUB pulled out a tight first game in which Fresno kept building three and four?point leads, only to see the 'Runners continually chip away. Trailing 21?17, CSUB finally used a 7?1 run to take its first lead at 24?22 before holding on for the win.
When the Roadrunners jumped out 6?0 to start game two, they seemed to be in control. Fresno battled back, however, and the teams traded leads until the 'Runners pulled ahead 24?23. But they blew three consecutive game?point opportunities before saving four Fresno chances to finish the game. The Bulldogs finally pulled out the 33?31 win in what proved to be the turning point of the match.
Nevertheless, CSUB came back from the intermission the better side, and pulled ahead midway through game three to take command, two games to one.
But things went south in game four as Fresno kept finding ways to survive rallies and put down kills from awkward positions. The Bulldog defense and serving, meanwhile, took CSUB out of its offensive rhythm, as Fresno rolled late in the game, using an 10?3 run to turn a 13?13 tie into a 23?16 lead en route to the win.
Fresno took an early lead in game five, but CSUB rallied to tie the game after a diving dig by Norman led to freshman Lindy DeGeare (Stockdale HS) finding the corner for her 11th kill of the match to tie the game at 12?12. On the next rally, Norman took a great swing to give CSUB the lead, but it went just wide and Fresno served out the match.
CSUB continues play at the Fresno State Invitational with two matches Saturday. The 'Runners will play Saint Mary's College at 10 a.m. and UC Davis at 5 p.m.
