Bryan Cole / The Collegian

Bulldogs lose in straight sets to Idaho at Save Mart Center, fall to 2-4 in WAC

The Bulldogs scored first in all three sets, but late runs by the Vandals led to Idaho sweeping Fresno State in Saturday afternoon’s volleyball game at the Save Mart Center.

Idaho dropped Fresno State’s conference record to 2-4 and its overall record to 5-10 by winning all set matches by scores of 25-20, 25-21, and 25-20.

“Sometimes we get down, and we let them get on runs, and we need to stop doing that,” Lauren Berger said, who finished the game with six kills.

The Vandals trailed 5-4 in set one before rallying to take a nine-point lead at 18-9. Idaho also overcame early deficits in sets two and three and led by no more than 10 points throughout each set, despite Fresno State scoring first to start each match.

“They’re a good team. From our standpoint, they took care of their first-ball contact better than we did. They had better ball control,” coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell said.

Freshman Baylee Platt led the team in kills with nine Saturday. She is second on the team with 141 kills for the year.

“I just played hard and I tried to help out the team and tried to keep the ball in place,” Platt said.
Junior Allanah Munson had a double-double with 13 digs and 24 assists.

Munson believes with her coach that Idaho was one of the toughest conference opponents they’ll face this year.

“There’s still Hawaii and New Mexico State on the top, but Idaho is up there with them,” Munson said. “They competed really well, but I think we competed pretty good too.”

Munson and Platt were the main reasons why the Bulldogs stayed with Idaho throughout the whole game. Both were consistent with their kills and assists in all three sets.

Netherby-Sewell had high praise for both players after the game.

“Allanah works hard for us every day,” Netherby-Sewell said. “Mainly what she brings is that competitive attitude. She fights the whole match. Baylee is going to get there. She doesn’t have a lot of experience, but when she is in a good position to hit she’s a terminating hitter, and that’s good to have.”

Platt helped get the Bulldogs on a 5-0 run late in set one to cut the Idaho lead to 18-13 before the Vandals pulled away.

In set two, the Vandals broke a 2-2 tie and had the biggest lead in the game at 16-6. Munson, Platt and Clarke helped spark a late rally to cut the Idaho lead to two at 19-17 before the Vandals held on for the victory in the second game.

The Bulldogs led 12-8 in the final set, but the Vandals tied the game at 15 and finished off the sweep of Fresno State with a 25-20 victory.

Fresno State has 10 games remaining against Western Athletic Conference (WAC) opponents this season. Then it’s the WAC tournament at Hawaii in November.

“We need to keep working on our consistency,” Munson said. “We’re just working to really keep coming together.”

Fresno State has a week off before taking on Nevada on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Save Mart Center.
The Wolf Pack has won the last five meetings.