Oct. 5, 2006
SAN DIEGO - Entering Thursday night's match in Peterson Gym, San Diego State had never lost at home to the Wyoming Cowgirls. That record remained in tact as SDSU defeated UW in four games (30-26, 18-30, 30-27, 30-17) to end a five-game losing streak and record its first Mountain West Conference victory of the season. It was the 15th meeting between the teams in San Diego as SDSU improved its all-time mark against Wyoming to 26-5.
The Aztecs (7-11, 1-5 MWC) were led by a trio of players who notched 15 kills apiece. Junior middle blocker Kelley Wahlin was one of that threesome as she also added five blocks. Her kill total was a career-high, almost doubling her previous personal best of eight which she has totaled on three occasions this fall.
Senior Melanie Greene added 10 digs to her 15 kills for her team-leading seventh double-double of the year. Fellow senior co-captain Audra Dent also had 15 kills and chipped in six blocks, eight digs and an assist.
Freshman Stephanie Darnall reached double figures in kills with 13, and just missed her eighth double-double of the season with nine digs.
Setter Kristen Castillo played every point in the match for the first time in 2006 and ended her evening with a career-high 51 assists, her best total since her freshman season of 2004. In addition, libero Aime Cordeiro led all players with 20 digs over the four games.
Wyoming (8-7, 2-3 MWC) was led by Rachel Smith with 14 kills along with teammates Annie Meyers and Angie Hellbaum who contributed a dozen each.
In the opening game, SDSU jumped out to a three-point lead and maintained an advantage until UW evened the score at 12-12. The teams traded points, and with the game tied at 16-16, the Aztec scored three points to take a lead it would not relinquish. Kelley Wahlin had a kill, then a combination block with Kristen Castillo followed by a kill by Melanie Greene. Greene had a pair of kills to account for two of the games final three points with the game-winner coming on a service ace by Castillo. Wahlin finished the contest with six kills, a figure matched by Wyoming's Annie Meyers.
Game two saw the visitors jump out to a 10-4 lead en route to evening up the match. The Aztecs got as close as 16-15, but from there the Cowgirls won five of the next six points as SDSU could only score three times the rest of the way. The Aztecs recorded more kills than Wyoming (13-11) during the contest, but were hurt by 11 attack errors and seven blocks by UW. Angie Hellbaum led the Cowgirls with six kills while Audra Dent had the same total for San Diego State.
The third game was a tightly-contested affair that saw the lead go back and forth until the score was knotted at 25-25. From there, SDSU got a kill from Wahlin and a combination block by Wahlin and Darnall gave the home side the lead for good. Two more kills by Wahlin and the game-winner by Greene gave the Aztecs the three-point win. Wahlin had six kills as did Rachel Smith for the Cowgirls.
After winning the third game in close fashion, the Aztecs came out for the fourth contest looking to close out the match. That attitude carried over onto the court as they jumped out to a 9-2 lead and never looked back, eventually recording a 13-point win in the game and a 3-1 match victory. Stephanie Darnall had five kills down the stretch while Dent added four kills and three blocks. The team hit .481 in the game and had only four attack errors while holding Wyoming to a .069 hitting percentage.
The Aztecs recorded more kills (70-53), assists (58-51) and digs (54-59) than Wyoming while hitting .290 for the4 match compared to .206 for the Cowgirls. SDSU's attack percentage was the team's highest since its win over Lipscomb at the Fullerton tournament on Sept. 16.
San Diego State will now prepare to play its next four matches on the road beginning with a contest at Air Force next Friday, Oct. 13, at 7:00 p.m. (MDT).