Oct. 9, 2008
PROVO, Utah - San Diego State got a career-high 19 kills from freshman Kyley Sexton as it upset Brigham Young in four sets (25-20, 27-25, 19-25, 27-25) Thursday evening at Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah. The win was the Aztecs' first on the Cougars' home floor since the 2002 season as they improved to 5-10 overall and 2-3 in the Mountain West Conference.
The loss was the third straight for Brigham Young, which saw its record fall to 906 (2-4 MWC) despite leading the match in every statistical category. Those stats proved to be somewhat misleading as San Diego State made the big plays when it counted.
Sexton, who was one of four Aztecs to reach double figures in kills, finished the match with a season-best hitting mark of .531 and also had a pair of digs and block. Others in double figures in kills included Stephanie Darnall (13), Lauren Salisbury (12) and Lauren Van Orden (11).
Darnall completed her first double-double effort of 2008 by adding 10 digs, tying her season best in that category. Salisbury, who hit .357 over the four sets, also chipped in with three blocks while Van Orden also had three blocks in addition to her second-highest kill total of the season. Sophomore Bailee Hellwig was the Aztecs' defensive answer at the net with six total blocks on the night.
Brigham Young also had a quartet of athletes finish in double figures in kills, led by Bryn Porter and Kayla Walker with 17 and 13 respectively. Ashton Hosford was the Cougars' blocking leader with six while Melissa Lake led all players with 18 digs.
San Diego State showed it came to play from the outset as it jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the opening set and increased that advantaged to as many as 11 points at 16-5. Five kills by Darnall and three each from Salisbury, Van Orden and Sexton along with three blocks from Hellwig propelled SDSU to a five-point win.
Six tied scores and three lead changes highlighted the second set that saw the Aztecs on the short end of a 24-23 score, a point away from the Cougars evening up the match. A kill by Darnall evened the score, and after the teams traded points, SDSU got back-to-back kills from Sexton, who totaled seven kills in the contest, to pull out the set at 27-25 and take a 2-0 advantage into the break.
Brigham Young mounted a comeback in the third set, which was close early until the home side took the lead at 10-9 and eventually opened up a five-point gap at 17-12. SDSU was only able to get back to within three at 20-17 before succumbing to BYU's high-powered offense. Although Van Orden led all players with five kills in the set, the Aztecs had only 12 as a team while being held to a .194 hitting percentage compared to the Cougars' .520.
The fourth set saw the re-emergence of Sexton at the net as she accounted for seven kills. San Diego State trailed most of the way and was down by as many as six points at 14-8, but fought its way back to knot the score at 20-20. Just as in game two, the Aztecs faced a match-tying set point at 24-23, but a bad set by the Cougars allowed them to tie it up. With BYU leading 25-24, Sexton came through with a kill to make it 25-all and then finished off the Cougars with two more kills to give the Aztecs the set and match.
The Aztecs will now travel over to Salt Lake City where they will face the University of Utah on Saturday (Oct. 11) at 1:00 p.m. (MDT) at the Utes' Crimson Court.