Oct. 28, 2005
SAN DIEGO - In what looked like the makings of a very close contest turned into a one-sided affair as San Diego State defeated New Mexico, 3-0 (30-28, 30-13, 30-17) Friday evening in Peterson Gym. The win ended a short two-match losing streak for the Aztecs, who improved to 13-9 overall and 5-4 in the Mountain West Conference. The win solidified SDSU's hold on fifth place in the MWC standings and kept them one game behind both UNLV and Colorado State, who share third place in the league table.
Three Aztecs finished the game in double figures in kills, led by Lindsey Noll and Audra Dent with 12 apiece. Outside hitter Melanie Green had 11 kills along with 13 digs to record her ninth double-double of the 2005 campaign.
In addition, freshman Alicia Waller had nine kills, three service aces and eight digs while hitting .471 on the night. Senior Melissa Stapley contributed a team-high five blocks while Libero Aime Cordeiro had 14 digs.
UNM's Chelsea Sondrup had eight kills over the three games to lead the New Mexico, which fell to 12-9 (4-7 MWC).
After defeating the Lobos in five games in Albuquerque earlier this month, it appeared fans were in for another epic battle as the teams played a hard-fought first game that saw SDSU prevail 30-28. The teams battled back and forth, and with the score knotted at 28-28, the Aztecs snatched the final two points to record the win. Dent led San Diego State with seven kills while Noll chipped in with six.
The second game began the same way, but with SDSU leading 5-3, it ran off seven of the next nine points to take control of the contest. Noll had six kills in the game, equaling the total for the Lobos, while Greene had five.
Game three was much like the second with the Aztecs jumping out to a 5-0 lead and never looking back. They built that lead to 15-6 before the Lobos could close the gap to five once again, but the visitors could never get any closer.
San Diego State hit .324 for the match, the Aztecs' highest attack percentage since hitting .420 against Wyoming on Sept. 24. At the same time, SDSU held the Lobos to a .115 hitting percentage, including .065 in the second game and -.032 in game three.
The Aztecs return to Peterson Gym on Saturday evening (Oct. 29) as they host Air Force on Mountain West Conference action. The match is slated to get underway at 7:00 p.m.