Sept. 24, 2003
LOS ANGELES - Loyola Marymount showed why it is ranked in the top 25 team Wednesday night as they defeated San Diego State in three games (30-18, 30-20, 30-25) at Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles. The 24th-ranked Lions improved to 12-2 on the season while the Aztecs fell to 8-6.
SDSU's Aspen McPartland led all players with 14 kills on the night, but was the only Aztec to approach double figures in that category. San Diego State hit just .124 for the match and were overwhelmed by LMU's offense which turned in a .350 attack percentage.
McPartland also contributed a team-high four blocks in a match that saw SDSU out-blocked for only the fourth time this season. Senior Robyn Gregg had a match-high nine digs in a solid defensive effort.
The Lion's offense was paced by Dina DeBernardi and Kealani Kimball, who had 12 kills apiece. LMU showed offensive consistency throughout the match, hitting .344, .375 and .333 in the three games,
The Aztecs began the match well enough, and trailed by just three points (15-12) midway through game one. However, the Lions then went on a 12-2 run with eight of their points coming on Aztec errors.
Game two saw the home team jump out to a 10-2 lead with Sandy Krone accounting for four kills during that stretch of play. LMU upped its lead to 12 points at 19-7, and the Aztecs could get no closer than nine the rest of the contest.
Game three was a tightly-contested affair with the teams trading points up to 13-13. Loyola then scored four straight, three coming on kills by Kimball, and held off the Aztecs the rest of the way.
After suffering their third loss in four matches, the Aztecs have little time to recover as they travel to Las Vegas for their Mountain West Conference opener on Friday (Sept. 26) at 7:00 p.m.