Oct. 11, 2005
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State fell just short of pulling off a major upset as the 15th-ranked University of San Diego escaped Peterson Gym with a 3-2 (30-15, 27-30, 30-22, 27-30, 15-10) victory over the Aztecs Tuesday evening.
The win was the fourth straight for the Toreros and 11th in their last 12 outings as they improved to 14-2 on the season. The loss dropped the Aztecs record to 11-7.
Although outplayed on the final stat sheet, San Diego State gave the Toreros all they could handle in the way of a competitive match. The USD duo of Christie Dawson and Kristen Carlson collected 33 and 25 kills respectively, more than SDSU's team total on the night. Audra Dent was the lone Aztec to reach double figures in kills with 16.
The difference was at the net where SDSU turned in a season-high 20.5 team blocks compared to just seven by USD. Senior Lindsey Noll accounted for 12 of those blocks to establish a new career best. Her four solo blocks was also a personal high for the middle blocker from St. Louis.
The match started out as an evenly played contest as the teams traded points early. However, USD soon exerted itself, taking control offensively. Leading by two points at 8-6, the Toreros ran off six straight points and 12 of the next 13 to take a 20-7 lead and effectively put the game away. Kristen Carlson led the USD attack with six kills, just one fewer that the Aztecs had as a team.
Game two saw SDSU take an early 6-5 lead and maintain over a long stretch of play. They built their advantage to four points at 21-17, but at that point the toreros ran off five straight points to take a 22-21 lead.
But the game turned at 23-all as the Aztecs won three consecutive points on a kill by Lindsey Noll and a pair of blocks as Noll combined with Lindsey Mahan and Brandie Molnar to give the home de a three-point lead. SDSU held on with Alicia Waller notching the game-winning kill to even the match at one apiece. Christie Dawson tallied nine kills in the game for USD while Audra Dent led the Aztecs with four.
In the third game, with SDSU holding a 9-8 lead, USD went on a run of six points to take control of the match. Carlson had eight more kills to lead the Toreros to the eight-point win with Melanie Greene noting four for San Diego State.
The fourth game saw USD lead much of the way, taking a 26-21 lead and seemingly about to close out the match. But the Aztecs weren't done as they ran off eight straight points behind the serving of Aime Cordeiro and blocking of Dent and a couple of kills by freshman Alicia Waller.
In the deciding game, the Toreros came back from a 7-4 deficit to win the match. Dawson led the way for the visitors with four kills as they avoided the upset.
San Diego State now prepares to return to Mountain West conference play as they host league newcomer TCU on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 11:00 a.m. in Peterson Gym.