Sept. 25, 2009
SAN DIEGO - The University of San Diego volleyball team continued its recent dominance of San Diego State as it defeated the Aztecs in three sets (25-21, 25-17, 25-14) Friday evening at USD's Jenny Craig Pavilion. It was the seventh straight win for the Toreros over the Aztecs and their 11th victory in the last 12 meetings between the schools.
With the win USD, ranked 22nd in this week's AVCA national poll, improved to 8-3. SDSU, meanwhile, saw its record drop to 5-7.
Junior outside hitter Kelsey Manasco led San Diego State with nine kills and also recorded four digs amd a block ee sets. Hannah Evans contributed seven kills with no other Aztec having more than five on the night.
USD's Torey Ellick and Ali Troost shared match-high honors with 11 kills apiece. The former finished with a .429 attack percentage while the latter hit .579 for the match. As a team, the Toreros had a .299 hitting percentage while holding the Aztecs to a .095 mark.
The opening set, which was the closest of the three, saw the home side jump out to a 2-0 advantage and not concede the lead the rest of the way. Manasco had five kills in the contest, but SDSU was unable to put together a run to overcome USD's early advantage.
The second set saw the Toreros with a 12-11 lead at which time they ran off eight straight points to take control. Only one of those points came on a USD kill with the other seven being the result of an Aztec service error and six SDSU hitting errors.
With the score knotted at 4-4 in set number three, the Toreros scored six consecutive points courtesy of a pair kills by Troost and four Aztec attack errors. The visitors would end the run with a kill by Manasco to make it 10-5, but that's as close as SDSU would get the remainder of the contest as USD would go on to the 11-point victory and clinch the match.
The Aztecs resume conference play on Saturday, Sept. 26, when they host UNLV at Peterson Gym with match time set for 1:00 p.m.