Sept. 29, 2002
SAN DIEGO - For the third year in a row, the Utah volleyball team came to San Diego State with a top 25 ranking, and for the third straight year, they were upended by the Aztecs. After losing a two-game lead, San Diego State went on to defeat the 16th-ranked Utes in five games (30-21, 30-23, 23-30, 26-30, 15-8) Sunday afternoon in Peterson Gym.
With the win, the Aztec improved to 11-7 (2-0 Mountain West Conference) while the Utes fell to 11-4 (1-1 MWC).
Both teams had four players reach double figure in kills. For the Aztecs, senior Rochelle Currier led the way with 18 while Aspen McPartland had 17. Both finished with double-doubles on the afternoon with 12 digs apiece. Zlatina Anguelova finished with 15 kills while Nicole Akporiaye contributed 13.
Utah's Kim Turner led all players with 19 kills. Others in double figures for the Utes included Sylva Strzinkova (17), Sabine Schulz (15) and Britt Whiting (10).
San Diego State won the first two games of the match convincingly, and seemed ready to end it in three. But the Utes had other ideas, coming back strong with wins in game three and four led by Turner and Schulz.
With the match deadlocked at two games apiece, SDSU went out to an 10-4 lead en route to winning the deciding fifth game. SDSU finished off the match with a pair of aces by Rochelle Currier and a kill by Zlatina Anguelova.
Up next for the Aztecs is their first MWC road trip of the season, which begins with a match at defending regular-season champion Colorado State on Friday (Oct. 4) at 7:00 p.m. (MDT). The following evening they travel to Laramie to meet Wyoming.