Oct. 18, 2003
PROVO, Utah - For the second time this season, San Diego saw a lead slip away as it fell to Brigham Young, 3-2 (30-26, 30-22, 19-30, 21-30, 14-16), Friday evening at Smith Fieldhouse in Provo. The Cougars improved to 14-5 on the season overall and 4-2 in Mountain West Conference play. The Aztecs, meanwhile, saw their record fall to 12-9 (3-3 MWC).
The Aztecs were led by Megan Schauermann who tallied match-highs with 17 kills and 10 blocks while hitting .433 over the five games. Aspen McPartland recorded a double-double with 15 kills and 11 digs.
BYU was led by Bowers' 15 kills, followed by Wilson (14), Lewis-Hartsock (12) and Metcalf (11). Nielsen put up a match-high .462 attack percentage to go with eight kills. Defensively, Uila Crabbe put up a match-high 21 digs and Wilson recorded a career-high 17 digs to record her sixth double-double of the year.
The Cougars hit .211, while limiting SDSU to a .130 attack percentage. In the final three games, BYU held the Aztecs to sub-.100 attack percentages in each.
BYU the No. 19 blocking team in the nation was matched up with SDSU, the No. 5 blocking team. In the match, the Aztecs held the blocking advantage at 15-12. Defense and serving spurred runs on both sides throughout the match.
In the first game, SDSU staked itself to an early lead at 5-2, but three consecutive Aztec attack errors knotted the game at 5-5. From there, the game would remain close and the two teams would exchange points. The Cougars took their largest lead of the game at 21-19, but the Aztecs staged a 4-0 run, largely due to three BYU attack errors to take a 23-21 lead. SDSU cruised from there taking nine of the next 12 points.
After a close start to the second game, SDSU staged a critical 5-0 run midway through the game to take a commanding 18-12 lead. The Cougars couldn't get within five points the rest of the way, as the Aztecs ran away with the game by hitting a match-high .419.
Game three saw the Cougars came out and take a quick 4-2 lead with two kills from Lindsey Metcalf. BYU and SDSU traded points to keep the game close, but the Cougars would continue to hold a slim lead as they hit over .300 throughout the game. BYU's decisive blow was a 4-0 run to extend the Cougar lead to 20-15 after Kim Wilson and Metcalf kills. The Cougars ended up scoring 14 of the final 18 points in the game.
The fourth game featured the same theme as the third. BYU took a quick 6-1 lead and would hold the advantage throughout. The Cougar defense continued to keep the Aztec offense in check, as BYU stifled each SDSU rally. The Aztecs would draw to within three points on numerous occasions, but were turned away each time. BYU finished with a 12-5 run to end the game, capped by a pair of Metcalf kills.
As it had in the previous two games, BYU took an early lead in the fifth game with a 3-0 lead. In a back-and-forth offensive struggle, SDSU fought back to tie it at 5-5. The Cougars then reeled off a 4-0 run, punctuated by two Wilson kills. The Aztecs then pulled off a 4-0 run of their own to tie the game again at 9-9. BYU then staged another 4-0 run after consecutive kills by Carrie Bowers, Wilson and Lindsy Lewis-Hartsock. SDSU fought back again with a 5-1 run to tie the game at 14-14, but the Cougars prevailed with back-to-back kills from Bowers and Laura Nielsen to seal the match.
San Diego State will be back in action on Saturday (Oct. 18) when it visits Utah in salt Lake City at 7L00 p.m. (MDT),