Sept. 1, 2006
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Making its first road trip of the season, San Diego State wasted little time getting back into the win column with a 3-0 (31-29, 30-18, 30-22) win over New Hampshire at the Big Orange Invitational in Syracuse, N.Y. The win ended a short two-match losing streak for the Aztecs, who improved to 2-3 on the season. New Hampshire, meanwhile, saw its record drop to 1-3.
SDSU was led by Melanie Greene, who finished the night with a dozen kills, seven digs, a block and one service ace. Freshman Stephanie Darnall contributed 10 kills and nine digs with two aces while hitting .421 over the three games.
Middle blockers Kelley Wahlin and Bailee Hellwig both had four blocks apiece to establish their Aztec personal bests while Audra Dent had a career-high three service aces. In addition, libero Aime Cordeiro had 22 digs and has averaged 8.8 digs per game over San Diego State's last two matches. Cordeiro set a school and conference record with 39 against College of Charleston this past Wednesday.
New Hampshire's Emmy Blouin led all players with 13 kills on the night while teammate Sarah Rehn finished with 12. The Wildcats hit .117 and had four blocks while the Aztecs finished with a .216 attack percentage and 10 team blocks.
The first game of the match saw SDSU with a late 27-23 lead, only to see the Wildcats knot the score at 29-29. The Aztecs then got a kill from Greene and a solo block by Wahlin to pull out the two-point win. Greene had five kills while Hellwig recorded her four blocks in that opening contest.
Game two was all San Diego State as it jumped out to an 11-3 lead and never looked back. The defense held New Hampshire to just eight kills and a .029 hitting percentage while the offense hit .351 behind four kills apiece from Greene and Wahlin.
SDSU maintained control in the third game, although an early seven-point lead was reduced to just two at 20-18. From there, the Aztecs scored three straight points on a kill by Greene, a combination block by Greene and Hellwig plus an ace by Kristen Castillo. Stephanie Darnell led all players with six kills in the game.
San Diego State continues play at the Big Orange Invitational on Saturday when it takes on host Syracuse on Saturday (Sept. 2) at 12:00 p.m. (EDT). The Aztec will the come back later in the day to face Kentucky at 5:00 p.m. (EDT).