Nov. 16, 2000
San Diego - The fourth-seeded San Diego State Aztecs came from behind to defeat a tenacious New Mexico squad to advance to the semifinals of the 2000 McLeodUSA Mountain West Conference Championship tournament. SDSU's five-game win came by scores of 12-15, 15-9, 12-15, 15-8, 15-9.
The Aztecs (18-12) were led by senior Amy Hallquist with 24 kills and 11 digs, while three others hit in double figures in kills. Hallquist, whose kill total was one shy of her career best for a match, was joined by Aspen McPartland who tallied 15 kills with Erin Grady and Monet Solberg contributing 10 apiece.
Six SDSU players ended with double figures in the dig column: Hallquist and McPartland with 17, Katie Magnuson with 14, Solberg with 13, Jessica Allen with 12 and Melissa Wright with 10. Wright also notched 55 assists in the victory.
New Mexico (9-16) got 13 kills apiece from Amy Amundson and Lynzie Hayes while Erika Sansoni totaled a Mountain West Tournament record 22 digs. UNM's lone senior, Micaela Conley, turned in her 12th double double of the season with 10 kills and 16 digs.
"I want to give New Mexico credti," said Aztec coach Mark Warner. "They played well. On the other hand, I don't feel like we played well. We hit almost 100 points below our average. But we found what we needed with the match on the line."
The Aztecs now advance to the tourney semifinals where they will face top-seeded host Colorado State Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. (MST). The other semifinal, scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start, will have the No. 2 seed BYU Cougars taking on the third-seeded Utah Utes. The semifinal winners advance to the championship match Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.
San Diego State will conclude its 2000 season with a match at crosstown rival University of San Diego on Tuesday, Nov. 21, at 7:00 p.m.
San Diego State 3, New Mexico 2 1 2 3 4 5 FinalUNM 15 9 15 8 9 2SDSU 12 15 12 15 15 3Kills: UNM-59 (Hayes-13, Amundson-13), SDSU-76 (Hallquist-24)Assists: UNM-56 (Kelly Griffin-54), SDSU-66 (Wright-55)Digs: UNM-85 (Sansoni-22), SDSU-86 (McPartland-17)Service Aces: UNM-6 (Blaire Burns-3), SDSU-12 (McPartland-4)Blocks: SDSU-8.0 (Grady-5), UNM-10.0 (Sansoni-5)Attendance: 107