Sept. 21, 2006
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State played tough from start to finish, but 16th-ranked Brigham Young proved too much to handle as the Cougars defeated the Aztecs, 3-1 (30-28, 20-30, 30-18, 30-27), Thursday evening in Peterson Gym. The win was the fifth straight for BYU as it improved to 10-1 overall and 3-0 in the Mountain West Conference. SDSU, meanwhile, saw its record fall to 6-8 on the year (0-2 MWC).
The Aztecs were led by freshman outside hitter Stephanie Darnall, who finished the night with 17 kills and 14 digs. The double-double effort was her sixth in the last eight matches. Others in double figures in kills for SDSU included senior co-captains Audra Dent and Melanie Greene, who recorded 15 and 14 respectively.
San Diego State middle blocker Kelley Wahlin also had a fine outing as she matched her career high with eight kills while hitting at a .636 clip over the four games. She also contributed five blocks to lead all players in the match.
Libero Aime Cordeiro contributed 15 kills before suffering an ankle injury midway through game three.
Match-high kill honors went to BYU's Erica Lott, who tallied 20 along with 13 digs. The Cougars' Rachel Dyer ended the evening with 17 kills and hit .609 while Chelsea Goodman had 15.
San Diego State came out ready to play from the outset of the match and took a 17-10 lead midway through the first game. However, the visitors chipped away at SDSU's advantage, eventually catching up at 27-27. After the teams traded points, a kill by Bryn Porter and an Aztec attack error gave the Cougars the come-from-behind two-point win.
Game two started the same way, with SDSU running out to a 17-10 lead. This time, however, the Aztecs matched the Cougars the rest of the way en route to the 10-point victory. SDSU hit .389 for the game, led by Audra Dent's five kills along with four apiece from Wahlin and Greene.
After the break, Brigham Young dominated the third game, hitting .385 behind six kills apiece by Lott and Dyer. The Cougars took the lead at 7-6 and steadily pulled away, limiting SDSU to a .122 attack percentage. Darnall had four kills for the Aztecs, but they were unable to shut down the BYU attack.
The fourth game was back and forth until the Cougars took the lead for good at 16-15 and built that into a five-point advantage at 24-19. SDSU was able to cut the margin to just two points at 25-23, but couldn't get any closer as BYU closed out the match on a kill by Dyer.
Up next for the Aztecs is a meeting with 18th-ranked Utah in another Mountain West Conference match-up on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in Peterson Gym.