Sept. 4, 2004
SAN DIEGO - Despite getting off to a fast start Friday evening, San Diego State's inexperience soon surfaced as the Aztecs fell to 18th-ranked UC Santa Barbara, 3-0 (27-30, 20-30, 18-30), at the SDSU Invitational in Peterson Gym. With the win, the Gauchos, who defeated Wichita State earlier in the day, improved to 2-0 while the Aztecs saw their record drop to 0-3.
SDSU jumped out to a quick 98-2 lead in game one, only to see UCSB come all the way back and take the lead for good at 19-18 en route to the three-point win. The second game saw the visitors grab an early 3-0 lead and the Aztecs never caught up. The final game was controlled by the Gauchos from the start as they broke a 6-6 deadlock with four straight points and never looked back.
UC Santa Barbara hit .277 for the match while holding San Diego State to a .000 attack percentage. Much of that can be credited to the Gauchos' blocking which saw them reco4rd 11 team blocks to 5.5 for the Aztecs. UCSB's Megan Blackshire led all players with 13 kills.
SDSU's Melanie Greene, making her first start of the season, had a team-high seven kills to lead the Aztecs. In addition, freshman libero Aime Cordeiro continued her steady play by contributing nine digs and a service ace. Junior Kari Dykema also had nine digs and a pair of aces.
SDSU concludes tourney play on Saturday when it faces Wichita State at 12:30 p.m. in Peterson Gym. That game will follow the UCSB-Texas Tech match which is slated to start at 10:00 a.m.