Sept. 18, 2003
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State ended a two-match losing streak by defeating Harvard, 3-0 (30-10, 30-21, 30-14), Thursday evening in Peterson Gym. The Aztecs got off the mark quickly and controlled all phases of the match as they improved to 8-5 on the season. The Crimson, who have nine Californians on their roster, saw their record fall to 1-3.
Once again, senior Aspen McPartland led SDSU, hitting .591 and recording 15 kills. Teammate Kara Moriarty had 13 kills and hit .458 over the three games and also set a new career high with five blocks on the night. Megan Schauermann, who began the week ranked 10th the nation in blocks, turned in another solid performance at the net with five block assists to raise her season average to 1.65 bpg.
Harvard's' Nathalie Miller led the Crimson offense, recording a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs. Ashley Atkins chipped in with 12 digs as well.
The opening game saw San Diego State run out to an 11-3 lead behind the serving of Natalie Sande and hitting of McPartland. After Harvard scored a pair of points, SDSU extended its lead to 17-5 and never looked back.
Game two was a tighter affair with the home team unable to pull away until the end of the contest. Harvard was within three points at 21-18, but a pair of Crimson attack errors plus kills by McPartland and Moriarty put the game away for the Aztecs.
SDSU got out of the blocks quickly again in the third game, racing out to a 12-3 lead and going on to win the match. Zlatina Anguelova had six kills in game three with Moriarty and Morgan Loftis contributing four apiece.
San Diego State hit .473 for the match, it's best attack percentage of the season, while holding Harvard to a .102 hitting percentage. The Aztecs recorded 61 kills compared to 28 for the Crimson and had 14 team blocks to just two for the visitors.
Up next for San Diego State is a trip to Los Angeles where they will face 25th-ranked Loyola Marymount next Wednesday, Sept.24, at 6:00 p.m. at LMU's Gersten Pavilion. The Aztecs will then open conference play at UNLV two days later.