Nov. 19, 2005
SAN DIEGO - On an emotional senior night for the women's volleyball team, San Diego State pulled off a victory over Utah (19-8, 11-5 MWC) in four games (30-28, 30-27, 28-30, 30-17) at Peterson Gym on Saturday. The Aztecs ended their regular season at 16-13 overall and 8-8 in the Mountain West Conference, and will await their seeding for the Mountain West Conference Tournament, beginning on Nov. 22 in Las Vegas, Nev.
SDSU said farewell to four of its seniors as Angela Verdenacci (Sao Paolo, Brazil), Ashley Bowker (San Diego, Calif.), Melissa Stapley (Mesa, Ariz.) and Lindsey Noll (St. Louis, Mo.) were honored in a pre-game ceremony. Noll finished with 14 kills, seven block assists and three digs, while Stapley added 10 kills for the Aztecs.
In the first two games, Utah took an early lead, but the Aztecs' offense proved to be too much for the Utes, and came from behind in both games to win 30-28 and 30-27, respectively.
The third game was a different story, as SDSU took the lead first, going on a 9-0 run, before Utah responded with its own 7-0 run. The Utes eventually tied up the game at 27-27, due to several hitting errors by the Aztecs. Utah closed out the third game 30-28.
Yet, SDSU would not be denied a victory in its last home game on senior night for the four departing seniors. The Aztecs kept the lead with three 4-0 runs and an 8-0 run towards the end of the game to finally pull away from the Utes, winning 30-17. Stapley had the game-winning kill for SDSU.
Junior Melanie Greene finished the night in double-figures with 10 kills and 14 digs and teammate Audra Dent added a team-high 23 kills. Sophomore Brandie Molnar also finished in double-digit kills with 11, and was two digs (nine) shy of finishing in double-figures in that category.