Sept. 26, 2003
LAS VEGAS - San Diego State opened its 2003 Mountain West Conference season with a 3-0 (30-22, 30-25, 31-29) victory over UNLV in Las Vegas Friday evening. The win ended a two-match losing streak for the Aztecs who saw their overall record improve to 9-6 on the year. The Rebels fell to 6-6 as they dropped their third consecutive match.
Although they only hit .158 as a team fro the match, the Aztecs defense held the Rebels to a .058 attack percentage over the three games. Blocking was again the key for SDSU although the final team totals were close (13-10 in favor of the Aztecs).
San Diego State was led by Aspen McPartland, who finished the match with 11 kills, six blocks and a .316 hitting percentage. Zlatina Anguelova (.310 attack percentage) and Kara Moriarty contributed 10 kills apiece for the Aztecs. Megan Schauermann also chipped in with six blocks on the night.
UNLV was led offensively by Leiana Oswald, who finished with 10 kills. However, the senior left side hitter, who is hitting .258 on the year, was held to a -0.48 attack percentage for the match.
The opening game was an evenly contested affair with the teams tied at 13 midway through the contest. At that point, the Aztecs ran off five straight points on a McPartland kill and four rebel attack errors, and the Rebels could get no closer than four the rest of the way.
A four-point run in the middle of the second game gave SDSU a 15-10 lead as it went on to the five-point. Kills by Moriarty, Anguelova and Schauermann accounted for three of the final four points.
Game three saw a 13-9 Aztec lead turn into a 20-15 Rebel lead as the home team put together an 11-2 run led by Oswald and Sheila Ocasio-Clemente. However, SDSU fought back to take a 28-25 lead, only to see UNLV knot the score at 29-29. From there, the Aztecs got points on a kill by Anguelova and a Rebel attack error to claim the game and the match.
On the horizon for San Diego State is more road conference action as they will travel to Laramie next Friday (Oct. 3) to face Wyoming at 7:00 p.m. (MDT), followed by a match at defending league champion Colorado State the following night.