Sept. 5, 2008
WACO, Texas - San Diego State mounted a pair of comebacks Friday afternoon as it defeated Texas-San Antonio, 3-2 (20-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-23, 15-13), at the Baylor Classic in Waco, Texas. SDSU first came back from a two-sets-to-one deficit to knot the match at 2-2, then rallied in game five after finding itself down by five in the early going. With the victory, the Aztecs evened their record at 2-2 while the Roadrunners dropped to 1-4.
San Diego State's offense was led by sophomore Kelsey Manasco and junior Stephanie Darnall, who recorded 14 kills apiece. Manasco's total was a new career high, bettering her total of 11 in the match against Albany last weekend. She also had four blocks, two digs and an assist over the five sets. Darnall, meanwhile, was one dig shy of a double-double effort as she finished with nine digs along with three assists, a service ace and a pair of blocks.
Freshman setter Lauren Van Orden had the finest game of her young SDSU career as she had a double-double with 23 assists and 11 digs. She also finished with nine kills and was one short of turning in the Aztecs' first triple-double since Aspen McPartland accomplished the feat against Santa Clara in 2003.
Defensively, senior libero Michelle Ferrer and freshman defensive specialist Courtney Miller had 14 digs apiece while Evans (along with Van Orden) chipped in with 11. In addition, Bailee Hellwig tied her Aztec career best with six block assists.
For Texas-San Antonio, Kendra Rowland led all players with 15 kills with libero Audrey Hiser notching 20 digs.
The Aztecs got off to a slow start in the opening set and quickly found themselves down 10-2, a deficit from which they could not recover. They were able to get to within four at 23-19, but could not complete a comeback in the set. Both teams struggled out of the gate offensively with only 15 kills between the teams ( 7 by UTSA, 8 by SDSU) in the set that saw 45 total points scored.
In the next set, San Diego State took the lead at 2-1 and slowly expanded that advantage en route to a seven-point win. Stephanie Darnall had five kills as the Aztecs hit .414 while holding the Roadrunners to a .108 attack percentage.
The third set saw the score tied on five occasions before UTSA took the lead for good at 14-13. Rowland led the Roadrunners with four kills while SDSU was led by three from Hannah Evans.
In the must-win fourth set, San Diego State scored the first three points of the contest and led the rest of the way to knot the match at two apiece. The Aztecs saw a 23-18 lead narrowed to a single point at 24-23 before Van Orden came through with a set-winning kill.
The fifth and deciding set began badly for SDSU as it fell behind 6-1. However, with the Roadrunners enjoying a 9-5 lead, the Aztecs rattled off six straight points to go up 11-9 and take charge of the contest. Included in that run were three kills by Manasco, one by Darnall, a service ace by Ferrer and a UTSA attack error. From there the teams traded points until Van Orden's ninth kill of the match finished the set and gave SDSU the victory.
San Diego State continues play in Waco this evening as it faces Baylor at 7:30 p.m. (CDT). The Bears will enter that match with a mark of 4-0 after having defeated Texas-San Antonio in three sets earlier in the day.