Sept. 4, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO - After defeating the University of San Francisco to open play at the USF Asics/Coca-Cola Challenge, San Diego State fell just short in a comeback effort against Rice, dropping a five-set decision to the Owls. The results left the Aztecs with a record of 3-2 at the end of play Saturday while Rice, which had received votes in the AVCA preseason poll, improved to 4-1. San Francisco saw its record drop to 1-3 with a contest against Cal State Northridge to be played this evening.
The match against the Dons was a close affair that saw each set decided by four points or less as SDSU prevailed by scores of 25-23, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23. Sophomore outside hitter Kyley Sexton led the offense with season highs of 18 kills and 10 digs as she recorded her first double-double of the season. Her kill total was one shy of her career best set against Brigham Young last season while her dig total tied her personal best as an Aztec that came vs. Weber State in 2008.
Middle blocker Lauren Salisbury contributed 11 kills and eight blocks with a .435 attack percentage. Andrea Hannasch and Hannah Evans had six blocks apiece as the Aztecs were dominant at the net with 14 team blocks compared to five for USF.
Elsewhere Lauren Van Orden notched 44 assists for the second time this season, tying her career best which she would surpass against Rice in the second match of the day.
In that contest against the Owls, which SDSU dropped by scores of 19-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 13-15, saw the Aztecs drop the first two sets before launching a stirring comeback to tie the match at two apiece with wins in the third and fourth sets.
In the deciding fifth contest, San Diego State found itself down 12-8 before rallying to close within a point at 14-13. However, the comeback was thwarted as a Rice kill provided the match-winning point for the Owls.
Hannasch led the Aztec offense with a team-high 15 kills and a .542 attack percentage while Salisbury had 10 kills and a .333 hitting percentage. Both played recorded five blocks as did teammate Paije Pearson who chipped in with eight kills as well. Van Orden set a new SDSU personal best with 47 assists as well.
The final stat lines for each team gave an indication of the closeness of the match as both side had 55 kills with Rice hitting .134 to .132 for SDSU. In addition, the Owls led in assists totals 50-49 while the Aztec had a slight edge in team blocks (13-12).
San Diego State concludes play at the USF Asics/Coca-Cola Challenge on Saturday (Sept. 5) when it meets Cal State Northridge in a match slated to get underway at 4:00 p.m.