Oct. 14, 2006
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - San Diego State saw a short two-match win streak come to end Saturday evening as it dropped a 3-1 (30-16, 30-28, 27-30, 30-21) decision to Colorado State in Fort Collins. The loss dropped SDSU to 8-12 on the season and 2-6 in the Mountain West Conference. The Rams, meanwhile, won for the seventh straight time as they improved to 12-6 (6-2 MWC).
Audra Dent led the San Diego State attack, finishing with 14 kills and adding 15 digs to complete the double-double effort. The 15 digs represented a career high for the senior right side hitter, who also added four blocks and an assists to her stats for the night.
Fellow senior Melanie Greene was the only other SDSU player to finish in double figures in kills as she posted a team-high 16 along with seven digs. Freshman Caitlin McMillan added a personal-best seven kills over the four games while middle blocker Lindsey Mahan chipped in with eight kills, three digs and three blocks.
Colorado State had five players end the night in double figures in kills led by Mekana Barnes and Katherine Whitney, who totaled 17 apiece.
The Rams hit .290 for the match while holding SDSU to a 1.52 hitting percentage.
In the opening game, the home side jumped out to a quick lead as it hit .529 for the contest compared to .057 for the Aztecs. Jaime Strauss led the Rams with five kills while Greene had four for SDSU.
Game two was a much closer affair that saw CSU move out to a 21-14 lead before watching San Diego State eventually knot the score at 27-all. From there, the Rams won three of the final four points on a pair of kills by Whitney and an Aztec hitting error to claim the two-point victory.
The third contest was a back-and-forth affair with the Aztecs taking the lead for good at 17-16. After upping its advantage to 23-17, SDSU saw the Rams fight back to pull to within a point at 28-27, but kills by Mahan and Greene won it for the Aztecs and forced a fourth game.
The final game was controlled by Colorado State from start to finish as it took a 7-1 lead and never looked back. Strauss had six kills and Tonya Mokelki added five for the Rams who totaled 20 as a team in the contest while holding SDSU to just 12 to win the game and match.
Up next for San Diego State is a trip to Salt Lake City where it will face the 12th-ranked Utah on Friday, Oct. 21, at 7:00 p.m. (MDT) followed by a visit to 19th-Ranked Brigham Young the following evening.