Nov. 20, 2003
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State needed every bit of its home court advantge to put away a tough UNLV squad, 3-0 (30-26, 30-24, 30-27), in the final match of the day at the Mountain West Conference Volleyball Championship at SDSU's Peterson Gym Friday night. With the win, the Aztecs improved to 18-13 while the Rebels ended their season with an 11-17 ledger.
San Diego State's all-conference duo of Megan Schauermann and Aspen McPartland recorded 17 and 15 kills respectively. Schauermann finished the night with a .652 hitting percentage while McPartland hit .440 over the three-game match.
UNLV's Leiana Oswald led all players with 18 kills while teammate Sheila Ocasio-Clemente chipped in with 10 and also had six blocks.
All three games were close with neither team able to establish offensive control. Game one saw several momentum shifts as UNLV took a 13-7 lead only to see SDSU knot the score at 24-24. The teams traded two points apiece before the Aztecs won the final four to claim the win.
"I felt we were ready to play before the match started," said SDSU coach Mark Warner, "maybe too ready. We had to calm the team down at bit at the beginning of the match to get into our rhythm."
Game two was another tight affair with SDSU pulling away late, winning five of six points to take a 24-18 lead. Oswald's six kills in the game weren't enough for UNLV to overcome seven from McPartland.
The third game saw the teams battle back and forth to 25-25 before the Aztecs closed out the match on kills by Robyn Gregg and McPartland.
"Early on SDSU was making some mistakes, but they inched their way back in," commented UNLV coach Deitre Collins. "They are a good team. We matched up pretty well with them, but they have a few more options than we do."
With the win, San Diego State moves on to a semifinal match-up with regular-season champion Colorado State Friday evening (Nov. 21) at 7:00 p.m. The other tourney semifinal will pit Utah against Brigham Young at 4:00 p.m. Friday afternoon.