Sept. 20, 2008
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - San Diego State got its 2008 Mountain West Conference campaign started on a positive note with a three-set (25-20, 25-17, 25-23) win over Air Force in Colorado Springs Saturday evening. With the victory, the Aztecs improved to 4-7 overall while the Falcons fell to 4-9 (0-2 MWC) on the season.
Junior Stephanie Darnall and sophomore Lauren Salisbury led the SDSU with 10 kills apiece in the match that took just 79 minutes to complete. Darnall's name appeared in every positive stat column for the match as she added six digs, three blocks, one service ace and an assists. For her part, Salisbury notched three digs and tied for match honors with four total blocks.
In addition, freshman setter Lauren Van Orden finished the night with eight kills and a pair of service aces to go along with 10 assists. Senior Leah Lathrop added 19 assists along with four digs while Bailee Hellwig matched Salisbury with four blocks as she maintained her season average of over a block per set.
Air Force's Jasamine Pettie led all players with a dozen kills on the night while teammate Nicole Stillwell added nine. The Falcons actually recorded more kills that SDSU (38-37), more assists (36-33) and more digs (41-28) over the three games. The difference in the match came in the error column where Air Force had 26 miscues compared to SDSU's 15. Asa result, the home side hit just .114 on the evening while the Aztecs turned in a .220 attack percentage.
Up next for San Diego State is a match with MWC foe New Mexico on Thursday, Sept. 25, at 7:00 p.m. (PDT) in Peterson Gym. Tentative plans call for live video of that contest to be streamed on the Internet at the SDSU web site. (www.GoAztecs.com).