Sept. 17, 2009
PROVO, Utah - San Diego State could not capitalize on a two-set-to-one lead and dropped its Mountain West Conference opener at Brigham Young Thursday evening at Smith Fieldhouse in Provo. The loss saw the Aztecs (4-5) fall below the .500 mark for the first time in 2009 while the Cougars improved their record to 5-6 on the season.
Kyley Sexton led SDSU with 15 kills and also had three blocks while teammate Lauren Salisbury finished with 13 kills and a.458 hitting percentage. Salisbury, who entered the match as the league leader in blocking at 1.32 per set, was held to just one block over the course of the match.
Sophomore setter Lauren Van Orden turned in season highs with six kills and 11 digs. She also had 47 assists to complete her first double-double effort of the year and 11th of her short collegiate career. In addition, libero Kristi Jackels chipped in with 23 digs, marking the fourth time in nine matches this season that she has had at least 20 in a match.
Brigham Young was led by preseason all-conference selection Kayla Walker, who had 32 kills to account for almost half of her team's total of 67. She hit .500 over the five sets and also had a dozen digs. Thurston Speredon had 13 kills and five blocks off the bench for BYU as well.
The difference in the contest was BYU's offensive efficiency and supremacy on the block. The Cougars ended the night with a .278 hitting percentage to .158 for SDSU. Defensively, Brigham Young turned in twice as many blocks as the Aztecs (14.5 to 7), who were led by five from freshman Andrea Hannasch.
With the match tied at one set apiece, the third set went to 24-24 before Hannasch had a kill and service ace to put the Aztecs up 2-1. In the fourth contest, the score was knotted at 21-21 before BYU scored four of the final five points with three of those coming on SDSU hitting errors.
The Cougars jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the deciding set behind a pair of kills by Walker, one by Kiana Rogers and an ace by Morgan Sorenson. The Aztecs were unable to get back into the contest as they could must only three total kills in the set while hitting -.143. Fittingly it was a kill by Walker that finished off the match and gave the home side the five-set victory.
San Diego State will now travel over to Salt Lake City where it will face preseason conference title favorite Utah on Saturday, Sept. 17, at 1:00 p.m. (MT).