Sept. 27, 2008
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State rallies in the second and third sets fell short as the Aztecs dropped a 3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 25-23) decision to TCU Saturday afternoon in Peterson Gym. It was the Aztecs' second loss of their short two-match homestand and dropped their record to 4-9 overall and 1-2 in the Mountain West Conference. The Horned Frogs, meanwhile, improved to 13-3 on the season and 2-1 in league play.
Sophomore Lauren Salisbury and freshman Lauren Van Orden led San Diego State with eight kills apiece while teammates Stephanie Darnall and Kelsey Manasco each had seven. Salisbury also contributed a team-high four blocks while Darnall had three digs and a block.
Van Orden turned in SDSU's top attack percentage of .316 and also chipped in with 13 assists, six digs, three blocks and a service ace. Fellow setter Leah Lathrop ended the match with 11 assists and eight digs along with three kills.
TCU was led by a 15-kill performance from Kourtney Edwards, who hit .423 over the three sets. Irene Hester had a dozen kills for the Horned Frogs to go along with eight digs and three blocks. As a team, TCU hit .355 for the match while holding the Aztecs to a .173 attack percentage.
In the opening set, TCU fell behind 43-3 before running off five straight points to take control of the game. From there the Horned Frogs built on that advantage en route to the 11-point victory. Kourtney Edwards and Devon Kirk had four kills apiece in the contest as the visitors hit .484 to just .103 for the Aztecs.
The second set saw TCU lead by as many as four points in the middle portion of the contest before San Diego State came back to tie the score at 20-20. The teams then scored a pair of points apiece before the Horned Frogs took a two-point lead on an Edwards kills and an SDSU attack error. A kill by Van Orden got SDSU to within one at 24-23, but TCU closed out the set on a kill by Kristen Hester.
The third set was one that the Aztecs let get away as they led throughout most of the contest and held a 20-17 lead down the stretch. TCU, however, fought back to tie the set at 22-22, and after the teams exchanged points got a pair of kills from Hester to close out the match.
San Diego State now goes back on the road for its next three contests beginning with a match at UNLV next Friday, Oct. 3, at 7:00 p.m. (PDT).