The Lady ’Dogs learned a hard lesson Tuesday as the California State University, Bakersfield Roadrunners sped away with the win.

This was the first time in over 16 years the two teams have played. In that meeting, Fresno State won.

Hopes were high for a repeat performance of that 1991 match, but this season, the Roadrunners proved to be a challenge for the Bulldogs.

Bulldogs’ head coach Ruben Nieves believes a lot was learned from the match.

“We let a lot of our mistakes become kills for Bakersfield,” Nieves said.

In game one, Bakersfield took a six-point lead midway through the game when Sarah Norman and Jodi Hardin scored several kills.

Fresno State closed the gap when Tairyn Rasmussen got several kills and Lisa Gera got a service ace. Bakersfield’s Norman scored yet another kill, ending the game 30-26.

Fresno State showed some promise at the start of game two, with a quick succession of kills by Rasmussen, Kelly Leonardo and Lauren Berger. But the Roadrunners fought back hard and won with a final score of 30-23.

The Bulldogs did not let up building a nine-point lead in game three on several kills by Rasmussen and a service ace by Meghan Moss in their only win of the match, with a score of 30-26.

Shaun Ho / The Collegian

Bakersfield fired back and won game four, ending the match.

Fresno State’s Lisa Gera said the loss was hard.

“We must move forward,” Gera said. “We will come back.”

The Bulldogs will face the roadrunners again on Oct. 24.

Nieves has faith in his team but believes they will have to step it up if they want a win.

“Next time, it’s going to be on their turf,” Nieves said. “We learned a lot about them and they learned a lot about us. It is going to be tougher.”