Oct. 20, 2006
SALT LAKE CITY - Just as it did earlier in the season, the University of Utah volleyball defeated San Diego State in three games (30-22, 30-17, 30-23) with a dominating performance Friday evening in a match played before a crowd of 718 at Utah's Crimson Court. The Utes hit .333 for the match while holding the Aztecs to just a .088 attack percentage.
The victory kept Utah undefeated in Mountain West Conference play at 9-0 as it improved to 18-2 overall wile winning for the 16th straight time. San Diego State, meanwhile, fell to 8-13 on the year (2-7 MWC).
Outside hitter Melanie Greene led SDSU with nine kills while fellow senior Audra Dent chipped in with nine. Middle blocker Kelley Wahlin recorded five kills and hit .429 over the three games while leading the team with six blocks. In addition, Aime Cordeiro added 19 digs to add to her lead-leading average.
Utah's Arial Salvo led all players in the match with 16 kills while Emilie Toone added 10. Toone, who hit .692, also had six blocks. Whitney Webb led all players with seven blocks on the night and added nine kills and 13 digs.
In the opening game, Utah took an early 3-2 lead and slowly pulled away for the eight-point win. The Aztecs had a team hitting percentage of .048 in the contest and trailed the Utes in kills by a 19-9 margin. Salvo led the Utes with five kills while SDSU was paced by Lindsey Mahan and setter Leah Lathrop with two apiece.
Game two was no better for the visitors as San Diego State hit .025 to .457 for the Utes. Utah led from start to finish, paced by six kills from Salvo. Melanie Greene had four kills for the Aztecs while Wahlin recorded three of her blocks.
The third game saw SDSU step up its play as it matched the Utes over the first half of the contest that was tied as late as 14-all. From that point, however, Utah took control, scoring nine of the next 11 points to take a 23-16 lead and effectively put the game away. Salvo and Webb each had five kills for the Utes while Greene led the Aztecs with four.
San Diego State will now make the short trip from Salt Lake City to Provo where it will face 18th-ranked Brigham young on Saturday, Oct. 21, at 7:00 p.m. (MDT) at BYU's Smith Fieldhouse.