Sept. 13, 2007
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State opened its 2007 Mountain West Conference season with a 3-1 (35-33, 30-28, 28-30, 30-24) victory over Utah Thursday evening in Peterson Gym. The Aztecs won for the sixth straight time, their longest winning streak since the 1999 season, as they improved to 9-2 overall and 1-0 in league play.
Utah, which entered the match having lost to three of the nation's top six teams, saw its record fall to 2-6 (0-1 MWC).
The win was a total team effort as the Aztecs were led by Stephanie Darnall, who had 19 kills, two assists, a service ace and five digs on the night. Freshman Lauren Salisbury finished with 11 kills and eight blocks while hitting .400 over the four games.
In addition, Sydney De Turk (9 blocks. 400 attack percentage) and Hannah Evans (3 aces, 6 digs) also hit double figures in kills with 10 apiece. Senior middle blocker Lindsey Mahan contributed 9 kills and 9 blocks along with eight digs.
Setter Kristen Castillo notched her first double-double of the season with 25 assists and 12 digs while fellow setter Leah Lathrop had 31 assists and three service aces. Libero Aime Cordeiro had her usual solid game in the back row with a match-high 23 digs.
The Utes, meanwhile, had five players finish in double figures in kills led by 22 from Kathryn Haynie and 17 by Lori Baird. Haynie completed a double-double with 12 digs as well.
In the final match stats, Utah held the advantage in kills, assists, hitting percentage and digs. San Diego State made up for those numbers by serving up nine aces to two by the Utes and recording 18.5 team blocks compared to Utah's 10.
For the 10th time in 11 matches this season, San Diego State began a match by winning game one although it needed extra points to do so. After the score was tied 16 times during the contest, SDSU put together a small run to take a 26-23 lead only to see the visitors win five straight points and grab a 28-26 advantage. The Aztecs knotted the game at 29-29, and after the teams traded points to 33-all, a kill by De Turk and a ball-handling error by Utah gave SDSU the 35-33 win.
The second game was another tight contest with the score being tied on 18 occasions up to 27-all. The Aztecs then scored consecutive points on a Ute attack error and a service ace by Lathrop. After Utah pulled a point back, SDSU secured the win on a kill by Evans.
After the break, San Diego State saw a spirited comeback in game three come up just short in a two-point loss. Utah came out strong from the start and built a 22-15 lead before .the Aztecs slowly got back into the game, knotting the score at 27-27. A pair of SDSU hitting errors gave the Utes a two-point lead, and after the Aztecs scored once, Utah won it on a kill by Baird.
As opposed to the earlier contests, game four saw only one lead change, that coming when SDSU went ahead 2-1. The Aztecs held the advantage through the remainder of the game, but could not pull away. After the Utes pulled to within 23-21, San Diego State scored the next three points on a pair of kills by Darnall and one by Kelley Wahlin, eventually taking a six-point win in the game and securing the match victory.
San Diego State continues Mountain West Conference play as it wraps up its current three-game home stand with a match against 12th-ranked Brigham Young on Saturday, Sept. 15, at 7:00 p.m. in Peterson Gym.