Nov. 26, 2002
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - San Diego State concluded its 2002 regular season with a 3-0 (30-28, 30-17, 31-29) victory over UC Riverside at UCR's Student Rec Center Tuesday evening. The victory improves the Aztecs to 22-12 on the year as they matched their highest win total since 1996 when they finished 22-11. The loss dropped the Highlanders to 6-23.
SDSU was led by Aspen McPartland, who finished the night with 15 kills, nine digs and six blocks while hitting .481. Junior Zlatina Anguelova recorded a double double with 12 kills, 10 blocks, and also had five blocks.
In addition, middle blocker Megan Schauermann had eight kills with no attack errors while teammate Sara Engstrom had a personal best four service aces.
The Highlanders had three players record double figures in kills led by Jamie DeKiewiet with 15. Amy Sperry and Pam Hartman had 10 kills apiece for UCR.
In game one, the Aztecs jumped out to an early 5-1 lead, but Riverside came back with a 10-4 run to take an 11-9 lead. UCR still led 17-16, but SDSU scored five straight points to go up 21-17. Again UCR battled back, this time tying the score at 25-25. But the Aztecs ran off four consecutive points and went on to the two-point win.
San Diego State jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead in the second game and was never caught. The Highlanders closed the gap to four points at 20-16, but SDSU scored the next eight points and finished off the game at 30-17. UC Riverside hit just .053 for the game while the Aztecs hit .238 and had seven blocks.
In game three, Riverside had the early edge at 4-1, but San Diego state knotted the score at 6-6. The lead went back and forth, and with the score tied at 29-29, SDSU got a service ace from Anguelova and a kill from setter Melissa Wright to win the game and match.
The Aztecs will now wait to learn if they will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The tourney selection announcement will be made on Sunday (Dec. 1) at 6:00 p.m. (PST) with first round matches played at campus sites beginning on Thursday, Dec. 5.