Aug. 31, 2002
SAN DIEGO - San Diego continued its winning ways at the Ramada Invitational Saturday morning, defeating Florida International in three games (30-15, 31-29, 31-29). The win improved the Aztecs to 2-0 on the young season while the Golden Panthers fell to 0-2.
Junior hitter Aspen McPartland continued her hot hitting with nine kills and a .438 attack percentage of the match. Her kill total was matched by teammates Megan Schauermann and Zlatina Anguelova as the team compiled a hitting percentage of .347 over the three-game match.
FIU's Jennifer Owens led all players with 14 kills on the day while Nirvana Kos added 13 for the Golden Panthers.
San Diego State took control of game by reeling off five straight points to take an 11-6 lead and the Golden Panthers never got closer than four after that point. Five kills each from McPartland, Anguelova and Currier. Eleven unforced FIU errors also helped the Aztec cause as SDSU hit .524 compared to -.143 for the Golden Panthers.
Game two was a different story as FIU played inspired volleyball, leading most of the way and holding a 27-22 advantage late in the contest. However, two kills apiece from McPartland Melissa Cansdale helped SDSU knot the score at 27 apiece. The Aztecs won six of the ensuing six points with Zlatina Anguelova providing the game-winning kill to give her side the 31-29 win. Jennifer Owens (5) and Nirvana Kos (4) led FIU in Kills.
The third game was another tightly contested affair with neither team leading by more than two points. With the scored at 29, SDSU closed out the match on an FIU service error and a kill by Robyn Gregg.
Action was set to continue in the Ramada Invitational Saturday afternoon with 20th-ranked UC Santa Barbara set to face Tulane at 1:00 pm. FIU faces Tulane at 5:00 p.m. with the tourney's final match pitting the Gauchos and Aztecs at 7:30 p.m.