Oct. 31, 2002
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State overcame a sluggish start Thursday evening and rebounded to defeat Wyoming, 3-1 (27-30, 30-15, 30-27, 30-22) in Peterson Gym. With the win, the Aztecs improved to 17-10 on the year and 8-2 in the Mountain West Conference as they maintained their hold on second place in the league standings. The Cowgirls (18-7) suffered only their seventh loss of the year, but six of those have been in MWC play as they fell to 3-6 in conference.
SDSU was paced by the hitting of Aspen McPartland, Zlatina Anguelova and Rochelle Currier. McPartland had another outstanding night, finishing with a career-high 23 kills and 10 digs. She hit .667 on the night with only one attack error. Anguelova and Currier both had 16 kills in the winning cause.
Wyoming had four players in double figures in kills led by Michele Rauter with 19. Lindsey Roebken tallied 13 kills while Jill Roslund and Leah Powers had 11 and 10 respectively. Roslund had a team high .579 hitting percentage, committing no errors over the four-game match.
Game one was a tight affair with neither team able to take control of the contest. With the score tied at 14-14, the Cowgirls ran off three straight points on kills by Powers and Roebken. They extended that advantage to five at 28-23 and went on to win the game by three points.
Game two went back and forth early and looked headed for another close finish. However, with SDSU leading 12-10, junior Robyn Gregg took over the contest, serving 10 straight points including five aces. The Aztecs finished the game winning 18 of the final 23 points to claim a 15-point win.
In the third game, the lead changed hands several times before San Diego State went ahead for good at 26-25. Currier finished off the contest with a two of her game-high seven kills. UW's Rauter also had seven kills while Anguelova and McPartland had six apiece for the Aztecs.
In the final game, San Diego State held a one-point edge at 22-21 before scoring seven straight points behind the serving of defensive specialist Sara Engstrom. During that run, Aztec middle blocker Megan Schauermann contributed a pair of kills and two block assists. Rauter kept the Cowgirl's in the match with six kills, but it wasn't enough as the SDSU completed its comeback from a game down.
The Aztecs ended the night with a .351 hitting percentage, their third-best team effort of the season, while Wyoming hit .242 for the match.
San Diego State will now have one day's rest before facing league-leading Colorado State in a battle of the MWC's top two teams in the conference standings. That contest will get underway on Saturday evening (Nov. 2) at Peterson Gym. The night will mark the final home contests of the season for the Aztecs, who will honor three seniors (Nicole Akporiaye, Rochelle Currier and Melissa Wright) making their final appearances for SDSU.