Oct. 11, 2008
SALT LAKE CITY - After falling in the opening set, the University of Utah came back to overpower San Diego State as it defeated the Aztecs 21-25, 25-14, 25-18, 25-15 Saturday afternoon in Salt Lake City. It marked the sixth straight win for the Utes, who improved to 14-4 overall and 5-2 in the Mountain West Conference. SDSU, mean while, fell to 5-11 on the year (2-4 MWC).
San Diego State was led offensively by a pair of freshman as it got 11 kills from setter Lauren Van Orden and 10 from outside hitter Kyley Sexton. Van Orden added 13 assists and nine digs to her stat line with Sexton recording a block and a dig as well.
Utah's Kathryn Haynie led all players with 14 kills and completed a double-double with 10 digs. Emilie Toone was also a force at the net for the Utes with 11 kills and nine total blocks.
The opening set went back and forth before eventually being tied at 11-11. At that point, SDSU scored five consecutive points on two kills, two blocks and a Ute hitting error to open up a 16-11 advantage. Utah fought back to get within a point at 22-21, but the Aztecs scored the final three points on a block and a kill by Salisbury plus a Ute hitting error.
The second set saw the home side take the early lead at 2-1 and increase it to a 20-5 margin before SDSU could get any offense going. Utah hit .370 in the contest while holding the Aztecs to -.067.
Utah grabbed an early 3-1 lead in the third set and quickly moved out to a 10-3 advantage, holding on to that lead en route to the seven-point victory. Again San Diego State's offense was held in check as it hit .000 in the contest.
The opening portion of the fourth set was an evenly contested affair, but Utah eventually took the lead and slowly built upon it. The Aztecs were still in it trailing by two at 11-9, but the Utes rattled off eight of the next 10 points led by Haynie's block and three kills during the run. Utah went on to finish off the match with a kill and block by Lori Baird.
San Diego State will now return home for a pair of matches beginning with a contest against Wyoming on Thursday, Oct. 16, at 7:00 p.m. (PDT) in Peterson Gym.