By Keanu Haghighi (@KeanuHaghighi):
San Jose State Women’s Volleyball improved to 11-4 on the season after a 4-set win against rival Fresno State (6-10).
After dropping their conference opener to the University of Nevada Reno, the team has now won three straight matches, all against conference opponents.
The Spartans got off to a slow start in the opening set falling behind 10-3. Later in the set they were able to close the gap to 18-16, however the Bulldogs scored five consecutive points and never looked back after that. Fresno State eventually took the first set by a score of 25-17.
After dropping the first set, the Spartans came back with a strong response in the second set. The team earned 14 kills and 3 service aces, which lead them to a comfortable 25-18 set win.
The third set was much tighter than the previous two sets, as both teams were scoring back and forth. When it became crunch time at 18-18, the Bulldogs began to make many costly errors. The team suffered three attacking errors and one service error, while SJSU did not commit any errors down the stretch, which ultimately resulted in the Spartans taking the third set 25-21.
In the fourth and final set, SJSU jumped out to a 5-1 lead and maintained a comfortable advantage for a majority of the set. However, sloppy play down the stretch helped the Bulldogs pull within two points at 23-21. After Head Coach Jolene Shepardson called a timeout, kills by senior Setter Breann Robinson and freshman Middle Blocker Lara Parts resulted in a 25-22 set win.
The player of the game for the Spartans was unquestionably senior middle blocker Nandyala Gama. She lead the game with 24 points and 21 kills while having the second highest hitting percentage amongst all players.
The Spartans will try to extend their win streak to four games next Thursday at home versus UNLV.