Sept. 26, 2009
SAN DIEGO - For the second time in three matches, San Diego State was extended to the limit, but managed to come away with a win as it defeated UNLV, 3-2 (27-29, 25-14, 25-16, 20-25, 15-11), Saturday afternoon in Peterson Gym. SDSU was led by a pair of players who recorded personal career bests and another who tied one. The victory featured a balanced offensive effort as five Aztecs ended the afternoon in double figures in kills.
The contest was the Mountain West Conference home opener for San Diego State, which improved to 6-7 overall and 1-2 in league play. UNLV saw its record fall to 3-8 (2-2 MWC).
SDSU was led by junior outside hitter Kelsey Manasco, who turned in a career-best 24 kills while hitting .314. She also contributed a pair of service aces, five digs and a block. Setter Lauren Van Orden also notched a career high with 61 assists in addition to chipping in with four kills, two blocks and five digs.
Hannah Evans notched 16 kills for the Aztecs to tie her career best and completed her second double-double of the season with a dozen digs. She ended the match with a personal season best .355 attack percentage as well. The Aztecs hit .335 as a team, their best effort of the 2009 campaign.
Freshman Andrea Hannasch was one of three other SDSU players to finish in double figures in kills with 11 while teammates Paije Pearson and Lauren Salisbury had 10 apiece. Hannasch added six blocks to maintain her season average of well over one per set.
UNLV, meanwhile was led by 19 blocks from Sara Nehf, who also had a pair of blocks and six digs. Cursty Jackson and Kelsey Keeler turned in 16 and 13 kills respectively for the rebels.
The opening set saw the teams separated by no more than two points over the second half of the contest with a kill by Nehf tying the score at 25-25 and forcing extra time. After the teams traded two points apiece to make it 27-all, the Rebels prevailed thanks to a combination block by Nehf and Jackson plus a kill by Keeler.
San Diego State jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead in the second set and never looked back as they dominated play while hitting .619 for the contest. SDSU spread the offense around as five players finished with at least two kills led by Hannasch with four and Evans and Manasco with three apiece.
In the third set, the teams remained close for the majority of the contest with SDSU forging a 17-15 lead. At that point the Aztecs scored seven straight points with the final three coming on consecutive kills by Manasco, who had a total of seven in the set. San Diego State continued its hot hitting, compiling a .308 attack percentage while holding the visitors to a .036 mark.
Manasco added six kills to her total in the fourth set, but it wasn't enough as UNLV would break a 16-16 deadlock with four straight points on kills by Keeler, Erin Greenwood and Jeralynn Makaiwi plus an Aztec attack error. SDSU could not overcome the Rebels .455 hitting percentage in the contest.
In the deciding fifth set, San Diego State took a 10-6 lead only to see UNLV come back and close to within a point at 10-9. After the teams exchanged points, the Aztecs took charge, scoring three in a row on kills by Hannasch, Pearson and Manasco to make it 14-10. After the Rebels scored a point, SDSU secured the match win when a UNLV kill attempt went wide.
San Diego State will now hit the road for a pair of Mountain West Conference matches beginning with a contest at New Mexico on Thursday, Oct. 1, at 7:00 p.m. (MT) in Albuquerque.