Oct. 23, 2008
FORT WORTH, Texas - San Diego State got double figures in kills from three players as it defeated TCU in Fort Worth Thursday evening. The victory came in front of an all-time record TCU volleyball crowd of 1,036 fans as the Aztecs returned the favor after falling to the Horned Frogs in San Diego in late September.
The win was SDSU's third in its last five matches with two of those coming on the road as it improved to 7-12 overall and 4-5 in the Mountain West Conference. TCU, meanwhile, saw its record fall to 17-5 (5-4 MWC).
Junior middle blocker Lauren Salisbury led San Diego State with 15 kills while hitting .438 for the match. She added seven blocks and seven digs to her stat line to account for 20 points over the four sets.
Stephanie Darnall added 14 kills along with 10 digs to record her third double-double of the year. She also contributed two assists, two blocks and a service ace. Freshman Kyley Sexton had 14 kills, the fourth time in the past five matches that she has been in double figures in that category.
Setters Leah Lathrop (29 assists, 10 digs) and Lauren Van Orden (19 assists, 10 digs) also added double-double efforts for the Aztecs. All told, five Aztecs reached double figures in digs with libero Michelle Ferrer notching 19 and freshman Courtney Miller adding 11.
San Diego State came out and hit .431 for the first two sets as it took a 2-0 lead in the match. The Aztecs made only two hitting errors in those first two contests and had none in the second set, which they won by a 13-point margin.
After the break, the Horned Frogs worked their way back into the match, winning the third set in a hard-fought battle. TCU took a commanding 16-9 lead only to see the Aztecs close to within a point at 22-21 before the home side was able to close out the contest on a kill and an SDSU attack error.
TCU continued its momentum into the fourth set and held a 19-16 advantage before San Diego State scored four straight points to go up 20-19. The Aztecs eventually took a 24-22 lead, but were unable to close out the match as a pair of hitting errors allowed the Horned Frogs to tie it at 24-all. At that point, SDSU got a kill from Van Orden, and a TCU ball-handling error on the next rally allowed the Aztecs to win the set and match.
The Aztecs will now travel to Albuquerque where they will face New Mexico on Saturday, Oct. 25, at 7:00 p.m. (MDT) at the Lobos' Johnson Gymnasium.