Nevada ran back into the locker room heads hanging low. Fresno State had just taken a two-set lead and things were looking rim for the Wolf Pack. Players huddled around and looked up at the game plan they wrote before the match. They weren’t fulfilling any of the goals they wrote down. A collective feeling of disappointment hung. That is, until senior middle blocker Tessa Lea’ea stood up.
“Let’s make Fresno feel how Air Force made us feel,” she said to her teammates. “Let’s make it a second chance.”
The Wolf Pack captured its first Mountain West Conference win on the road against Fresno State — a feat not accomplished since 2011.
“When we travel places it’s really hard to get wins,” Nevada outside hitter Madison Morell said. “The fact that we took three games off [Fresno] after being down 2-0 is huge. Fresno is a good team and we just came out and we said we were really to play and we took some games off them.”
Nevada’s turnaround was sparked by a different energy level coming off of intermission.
“We came out with a different mindset,” Morell said. “We went out there and changed what we do to have a different outcome. We struggled and we were down in the third, fourth and fifth matches, but our coaches were like ‘This is where you show fight’ and we showed them that we could do it and that we can turn things around.”
The first, third and fourth sets were a seesaw affairs. There was only one tie in both the second and fifth set. The first set featured nine ties and four lead changes, but Fresno came out victorious. However, that would not be the case in the third and fourth sets. The third set had seven ties and five lead changes while the fourth had six ties and four lead changes.
Four Pack players had double-digit kills. Middle blocker Sam Willoughby and outside hitter Madison Foley both tallied 13 kills while Morell had 15. Lea’ea led all hitters with 24 kills. She surpassed 1,000 kills to become the 11th player in program history to achieve the feat.
“It’s kind of like I’m grateful but it still hasn’t hit me yet,” Lea’ea said. “It’s a good feeling though.”
Lea’ea not only led in kills but also led all players in blocks as well. She put up six block assists and the team ended up with eight blocks compared to Fresno’s three. Nevada’s long arms came in handy toward the end of the match as Fresno tried to barrel through the block and hit the ball as hard as it could.
“Blocks were crucial especially toward the end of the match,” Morell said. “We started getting tired so just putting up good hands and hoping that we would get a touch with our block was a huge part of our game.”
Nevada will travel to Boise State and Utah State this week. The Broncos (8-8, 1-3) fell to Air Force and New Mexico last weekend. The Aggies (6-8, 2-2) are fresh off a victorious five-set match against Air Force after falling to New Mexico in five sets.
Confidence will be key for Wolf Pack to maintain its momentum going into this weekend.
“We needed the win for our confidence and I think it was good timing especially on the road. It showed that we can do it,” Morell said. “We put our mind to it, and we can do it. We play Boise State and Utah State this week and both are good teams. That doesn’t mean we can’t go and get games off them.”
Nicole Skow can be reached at euribe@sagebrush.unr.edu.