Aug. 25, 2007
SAN DIEGO - Long Island's Martina Wagner had 24 kills to lead the Blackbirds to a 3-2 (27-30, 30-26, 30-28, 28-30, 15-13) victory over San Diego State in the finale of the 2007 Aztec Invitational. For her efforts, Wagner was named the tournament MVP as she averaged 5.17 kills, 2.33 digs and 1.00 blocks per game over her team's three matches.
The result gave both Long Island and San Diego State identical 2-1 marks for the tourney and the season. UC Santa Barbara also finished 2-1 in tourney play while Fairfield went 0-3.
For SDSU, outside hitter Stephanie Darnall recorded her third double-double in three matches this season with a career-high 25 kills along with 19 digs. Also setting a career best for kills was senior Lindsey Mahan with 15. Redshirt freshman Hannah Evans notched her second double-double of the weekend with a 15-kill, 16-dig effort.
The match was a tight one in which the Aztecs attempted to emulate their come-from-behind 3-2 win over UC Santa Barbara the night before. The script was almost the same, as SDSU fell behind two games to one, then rallied in game four to tie the match at two games apiece. This time, however, the comeback fell just shy of the mark as Long Island won the deciding fifth game by a mere two points.
In the opening game, San Diego State led 20-15 before Long Island mounted a comeback to knot the contest at 27-27. From there, a kill by freshman Lauren Salisbury and two from Darnall closed out the game in favor of the home side. Darnall finished with a game-high six kills while teammate Hannah Evans had four. For the Blackbirds, Wagner and Shelby Heggie had five apiece.
Game two started off well for SDSU, which grabbed an 18-12 lead midway through the contest. This time, however, the Blackbirds came all the way back, tying the game at 18-18 and pulling away for the four-point win to knot the match at one game apiece. LIU was paced by six kills by Heggie while SDSU's Darnall once again led all players with seven.
San Diego jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in the third game, only to see the visitors tie the score at 8-8. Long Island worked its way to a 23-18 lead, but the Aztec knotted the game at 26-all and took a two-point lead at 28-26. From there, the Blackbirds scored four straight points on an SDSU hitting error plus two kills and an ace by Wagner.
In the fourth game, Long Island took the lead at 4-3 and held the advantage until the Aztecs fought back to tie it at 24-24. SDSU ran off three straight points on an LIU hitting error and a pair of kills by Darnall. The Blackbirds closed to within one, but a kill by Mahan at game point sealed the victory and evened the match at two games apiece.
The fifth and deciding game was tied at 11-11 when the visitors scored back-to-back points on a pair of SDSU attack errors. The Aztecs rallied to within a point twice, but the Blackbirds closed out the match on a kill by Martina Racic, who finished the night with 22.
The Aztecs placed a pair of players on the all-tournament team in middle blocker Lindsey Mahan and libero Aime Cordeiro. Mahan finished with an average of 3.00 kills and 1.08 blocks per game while Cordeiro had 5.27 digs per game and was 4-for-4 in kill attempts from the back row.
Up next for San Diego State is a trip back east to compete in the Hofstra/ASICS Invitational in Hempstead, N.Y. The Aztecs open play at that event on Friday (Aug. 31) with a match against Ball State at 5:00 p.m. (EDT).