Oct. 20, 2000
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State could not overcome the offensive firepower of Brigham Young Friday evening as the Cougars defeated the Aztecs 15-3, 18-16, 15-8 in a match played at SDSU's Peterson Gym. BYU, ranked 16th in the nation this week, improved to 15-6 overall and 7-2 in conference play. SDSU fell to 12-11 (4-4 in the Mountain West Conference).
The match had the makings of a blowout early as Brigham Young raced out to a decisive victory in game one behind the hitting of Nina Puikkonen and Melissa Layton. Puikkonen led all players with 23 kills on the night while Layton contributed 16.
However, game two was a different story as the Aztecs took a quick lead and maintained it for much of the game. After leading 13-11, SDSU found itself facing game point as BYU came back to take a 14-13 lead. An Amy Hallquist kill evened the score which eventually went to 16-all. From there, the teams traded side outs 12 times before Puikkonen gave the Cougars a 17-16 lead and Jackie Bundy's kill finished the game off for Brigham Young
Sophomore Nicole Akporiaye led the Aztecs with 16 kills and had no hitting errors while turning in a game-high .762 kill percentage. Senior Amy Hallquist (11) and freshman Aspen McPartland (10) also hit double figures in kills for San Diego State.
Things don't get any easier for the Aztecs on Saturday (Oct. 21) when they host 18th-ranked Utah, a team that defeated BYU two weeks ago.
Brigham Young 3, San Diego State 0 1 2 3 FinalBYU 15 18 15 3SDSU 3 16 8 1Kills: BYU-76 (Nina Puikkonen-23), SDSU-50 (Akporiaye-16)Digs: BYU-52 (Kalani Tonga-14), SDSU-45 (McPartland-11)Assists: BYU-70 (Karina Puikkonen-57), SDSU-48 (Melissa Wright-37)Service Aces: BYU-7 (N. Puikkonen-5), SDSU-3 (Wright-2)Total Blocks: BYU-14 (N. Puikkonen-5), SDSU-23 (Akporiaye, McPartland-5)Attendance: 226