The Fresno State volleyball program unveiled its 2017 schedule on Monday. The Bulldogs will open a tough campaign on Aug. 25 against Utah Valley in San Jose after a preseason tune-up with the annual alumnae match on Saturday, Aug. 19 at 1 p.m. PT.
Fresno State’s 31-match regular season schedule includes three non-conference tournaments prior to the ‘Dogs Mountain West opener on Sept. 21 at defending champion Boise State.
Non-conference action will get underway with the Bay Area Tournament on Aug. 25-26 as the ‘Dogs will take on Utah Valley from the WAC along with West Coast Conference opponents San Francisco and Pepperdine with the latter two matches in San Francisco.
The Bulldogs return from the Bay for their home opener on Aug. 29 welcoming crosstown rival Fresno Pacific to the Save Mart Center before September opens with the Portland Nike Invitational in Oregon. The ‘Dogs will see Alabama State from the SWAC, Pac-12 foe Oregon State along with host Portland out of the WCC on Sept. 1-2. The Bulldogs come back home to host WAC foe CSU Bakersfield for the first time sine 2013 and will enter that match having won seven of its last eight matches against the Roadrunners since 2010.
The final non-conference tournament for the Bulldogs takes them back to the Bay Area where they will compete in the St. Mary’s/San Francisco Invitational Sept. 8-9. The ‘Dogs and Gaels will meet in Moraga on Friday before Fresno State will take on Cal State Northridge on Saturday morning at Saint Mary’s and will then head across the Bay to San Francisco to take on the Dons that evening.
Non-conference action wraps up the following week with a pair of road matches at CSU Bakersfield (Sept. 12) and UC Irvine (Sept. 14) as the ‘Dogs will look for its third straight win over the Anteaters since 2013.
Mountain West play kicks off on the road at defending champion Boise State (Sept. 21) and Utah State (Sept. 23) as the ‘Dogs will travel to Logan for the first time since 2015. The Bulldogs host Nevada on Sept. 28 for its MW home opener and wrap up a four-game homestand with San Jose State (Sept. 30), San Diego State (Oct. 3) and San Jose State (Oct. 5). The ‘Dogs will then head to UNLV (Oct. 12) and New Mexico (Oct. 14) before returning home to host Utah State (Oct. 19) and Boise State (Oct. 21).
A four-game road trip over two weeks will take them to San Jose State (Oct. 26) and Nevada (Oct. 28) before a pair of weekday matches at San Diego State (Oct. 31) and Air Force (Nov. 3). The ‘Dogs will host New Mexico (Nov. 9) and UNLV (Nov.11) before one final road trip to Colorado State (Nov. 15). Senior Night will wrap up the regular season on Nov. 18 as the ‘Dogs will host Wyoming.
Four opponents, Boise State, Colorado State, UNLV and Alabama State, all reached the 2016 NCAA Tournament. In the non-conference, the Bulldogs will face teams hailing from six separate conferences – Pac-12, SWAC, WCC, Big West, PacWest and WAC.
Fresno State will compete against each Mountain West program on the road and at home, with the exception of Colorado State and Wyoming this season. All home matches will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network.
Head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell on the ‘Dogs 13-match non-conference schedule:
“We’re battling the West in our non-conference schedule. Travel shouldn’t be as fatiguing as last season which will help us in the long run. We’re playing some pretty physical teams, but know we can compete with that. Many of these matches will be a battle of ball-control. Teams like St. Mary’s, Portland, Utah Valley – they’re typically strong in that category. St. Mary’s and Portland run a really fast ball to the pin that we’ve struggled in dealing with the in the past, but think we’ll have a handle on it now with our improvements in blocking. We haven’t seen a Pac-12 team, Oregon State in a few years. They’re typically big across the net and the question against them will be ball control.”
“We played Pepperdine this spring and split a two-set match with them. That’ll be a fun match up. I think we surprised them with our size and ability to stuff block at the pins. We have some good mid-week matches – including two home matches to give our a fans a taste of what’s coming once Mountain West play starts. Our Fresno Pacific match is always a popular, local rivalry. We get great crowds and it’s good practice in adjustments for us. I like our team to get some time in front of a big crowd so they learn to focus in that environment. We’ll play a home-and-away against Cal State Bakersfield who we haven’t seen in a few years. But they’ve done pretty well in the WAC and it’s another fun, somewhat-local match to play. We had a great win against a good UC Irvine team last year and we’ll look to get another one from them at their place in mid-September.
Netherby-Sewell on opening play Mountain West play with a tough road trip:
“As usual we open up MWC play with a bang, going against defending MWC champs, Boise State, at their place. It’s a tough road trip, then going up in altitude against a fast-improving Utah State team will not be easy. I think we’ll gain some good momentum out of preseason and with the improvements we’ve made this spring and additions to our squad that will help with ball-control and defense, I think we’ll be in far better shape this year against the Broncos.”
Netherby-Sewell on the Mountain West conference season:
“Last year the MWC was really strong. Three teams not only got into the NCAA Tournament, two of them advanced to the second round. We didn’t win as much as we expected to this season, but many of our loses were tight and when we won, we were beating good teams. This year we expect the conference to be nearly as strong, but in turn we’ll be stronger. We have a bunch of sophomores becoming juniors and maturity makes a difference. Our blocking and attacking game improved a lot this spring. We have added ball control weapons to our roster so we have the size, we just need the passing and setting to bring it all together. I think we’ll have that this season and we are excited to get it underway.”
Non-Conference Opponents
UTAH VALLEY
2016 Record: 16-14
WAC Record/Finish: 10-4/T-2nd
All-Time Series Record: 0-2
Last Meeting: Sept. 8, 2012 – L, 2-3 at Fresno State
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Wolverines: 0-2
SAN FRANCISCO
2016 Record: 4-27
WCC Record/Finish: 0-18/10th
All-Time Series Record: 25-4
Last Meeting: Sept. 17, 2011 – L, 0-3 in Las Vegas
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Dons: 0-2
PEPPERDINE
2016 Record: 13-17
WCC Record/Finish: 7-11/T-7th
All-Time Series Record: 1-5
Last Meeting: Sept. 1, 2001 – L, 0-3 at Pepperdine
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Waves: First meeting
FRESNO PACIFIC
2016 Record: 11-13
Pac-West Record/Finish: 9-11/T-8th
All-Time Series Record: 4-7
Last Meeting: Sept. 12, 2016 – W, 3-0 at Fresno State
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Sunbirds: 4-4
ALABAMA STATE
2016 Record: 24-9
SWAC Record/Finish: 18-0/1st (Won regular season & conference tournament championships)
All-Time Series Record: 0-0
Last Meeting: N/A
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Hornets: First meeting
PORTLAND
2016 Record: 17-13
WCC Record/Finish: 10-8/T-3rd
All-Time Series Record: 3-3
Last Meeting: Sept. 3, 2016 – L, 0-3 at Fresno State
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Pilots: 1-3
OREGON STATE
2016 Record: 12-19
Pac-12 Record/Finish: 5-15/T-10th
All-Time Series Record: 6-10
Last Meeting: Sept. 19, 2014 – L, 0-3 in Bakersfield, Calif.
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Beavers: 0-1
CSU BAKERSFIELD
2016 Record: 14-15
WAC Record/Finish: 10-4/T-2nd
All-Time Series Record: 18-5
Last Meeting: Sept. 20, 2014 – L, 0-3 at CSU Bakersfield
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Roadrunners: 9-3
SAINT MARY’S
2016 Record: 11-18
WCC Record/Finish: 6-12/T-9th
All-Time Series Record: 6-4
Last Meeting: Sept. 4, 2015 – L, 0-3 at Saint Mary’s
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Gaels: 0-2
CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE
2016 Record: 11-17
Big West Record/Finish: 7-9/T-5th
All-Time Series Record: 9-15
Last Meeting: Aug. 31, 2013 – L, 2-3 at Fresno State
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Matadors: 1-2
UC IRVINE
2016 Record: 13-18
WCC Record/Finish: 7-9/T-5th
All-Time Series Record: 16-10
Last Meeting: Sept. 15, 2016 – W, 3-1 at Fresno State
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Anteaters: 2-1
Mountain West Opponents
BOISE STATE
2016 Record: 26-7
MW Record/Finish: 16-2/1st (Mountain West Champions)
All-Time Series Record: 20-14
Last Meeting: Nov. 10, 2016 – L, 0-3 at Boise State
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Broncos: 7-9
UTAH STATE
2016 Record: 14-16
MW Record/Finish: 8-10/7th
All-Time Series Record: 15-13
Last Meeting: Nov. 16, 2016 – W, 3-1 at Fresno State
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Aggies: 10-6
NEVADA
2016 Record: 19-11
MW Record/Finish: 10-8/5th
All-Time Series Record: 24-26
Last Meeting: Nov. 3, 2016 – L, 0-3 at Fresno State
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Wolf Pack: 8-11
SAN JOSE STATE
2016 Record: 12-18
MW Record/Finish: 5-13/10th
All-Time Series Record: 33-49
Last Meeting: Nov. 22, 2016 – W, 3-1 at San Jose State
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Spartans: 10-5
SAN DIEGO STATE
2016 Record: 17-15
MW Record/Finish: 9-9/6th
All-Time Series Record: 13-30-2
Last Meeting: Nov. 5, 2016 – W, 3-1 at Fresno State
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Aztecs: 2-8
AIR FORCE
2016 Record: 10-21
MW Record/Finish: 1-17/11th
All-Time Series Record: 9-4
Last Meeting: Nov. 12, 2016 – L, 0-3 at Air Force
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Falcons: 2-8
UNLV
2016 Record: 24-8
MW Record/Finish: 16-6/3rd
All-Time Series Record: 6-10
Last Meeting: Oct. 29, 2016 – L, 3-0 at UNLV
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Rebels: 2-9
NEW MEXICO
2016 Record: 16-16
MW Record/Finish: 6-12/T-8th
All-Time Series Record: 11-13
Last Meeting: Oct. 27, 2016 – L, 2-3 at New Mexico
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Lobos: 5-4
COLORADO STATE
2016 Record: 21-9
MW Record/Finish: 15-3/2nd
All-Time Series Record: 8-13
Last Meeting: Oct. 22, 2016 – L, 0-3 at Fresno State
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Rams: 1-8
WYOMING
2016 Record: 18-13
MW Record/Finish: 11-7/4th
All-Time Series Record: 11-16
Last Meeting: Oct. 20, 2016 – W, 3-2 at Fresno State
Coach Netherby-Sewell’s Record vs. Cowgirls: 4-6
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