Nov. 21, 2007
LAS VEGAS - The San Diego State volleyball team moved into the quarterfinals of the 2007 Mountain West Conference tournament with a 3-0 (30-18, 30-16, 30-24) victory over Air Force at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas Wednesday afternoon. With the win, the Aztecs improved to 13-15 on the year. The Falcons, meanwhile, ended their season with a record of 7-24.
Freshman Lauren Salisbury led the SDSU offense as she finished with a match-high 11 kills and nine blocks while hitting .429 over the three games. Sydney De Turk added seven kills and four blocks while teammates Lindsey Mahan and Hannah Evans had seven kills apiece for San Diego State.
Aztec setter Leah Lathrop led all players with 28 assists and three service aces. In addition, libero Aime Cordeiro had 19 digs and a pair of service aces on the night.
Air Force's Jasamine Petty equaled Salisbury with 11 kills and hit .364 to lead the Falcons. However, the rest of the Air Force lineup was less productive as the Falcons finished with a team hitting percentage of .000 for the match.
San Diego State opened the match by scoring the first seven points and looked to be in for a smooth ride in game one. But the Falcons worked their way back into the contest, eventually tying the score at 12-12. After the teams traded two points, SDSU took the lead for good at 15-14. It then outscored Air Force 15-4 the rest of the way to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
The Aztecs began game two the same way they had the first game, jumping out to a 6-0 lead. Although the Falcons scored the next point, they could get no closer as San Diego State slowly pulled away. De Turk and Kelsey Manasco had three kills apiece for SDSU, which was aided by Air Force hitting just -.024 for the contest.
Game three turned out to be the closest contest of the match with the Falcons taking the early lead at 7-3. San Diego State slowly closed the gap, knotting the score at 14-14 and did not trail the rest of the way. With the game tied at 21-all, SDSU scored three straight points on kills by Salisbury and De Turk plus a Falcon attack error as it went on to secure the match win.
San Diego State will now meet regular-season champion and top-seeded Colorado State on Thursday, Nov. 22. That match, which will be televised live on The Mtn, will start 40 minutes after the conclusion of the contest between TCU and Utah scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start.