Fresno State, in thriller, wins Mountain West volleyball title and NCAA Tournament bid
The Fresno State volleyball team is headed to the NCAA Tournament.
The seventh-seeded Bulldogs defeated No. 2 Colorado State 20-25, 23-25, 26-24, 28-26, 15-12 on Friday night at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas to give Fresno State its first Mountain West title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002.
“We did it,” Bulldogs first-year coach Leisa Rosen told the Mountain West Network. “This team did it. The support staff. It’s not about me. Everybody is making it about me and it’s not. It’s about my support staff. It’s about these girls and it’s about how hard they worked.”
Fresno State wasn’t even predicted to be among the contenders, much less the champion in the Mountain West Conference.
In the preseason poll, the Bulldogs were picked to finish last. UNLV and Utah State were the preseason favorites.
Turns out, the Bulldogs were the ones celebrating a title with Rosen, who came over from Michigan where she served as associate head coach for the past 22 seasons.
.It didn’t look good for Fresno State in the conference final, down two sets.
The Bulldogs finally regrouped after trailing 3-0 in the third set. Fresno State took advantage of back-to-back errors by the Rams. Addison Kaluska had a kill to give Fresno State the win 26-24.
Fresno State again faced adversity in the fourth set when Colorado State, twice, had a chance to clinch the match up 24-22. Fresno State tied it at 25 before Kaluska’s and Ella Rud’s kills to win the set.
Fresno State clinched the match in the final set on a setting error by Colorado State.
The Bulldogs will learn who they will face in the NCAA opening round when tournament selections are revealed Sunday.
