Nov. 15, 2009
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State spread the offense around as it got double figures in kills from four players in a 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-17) victory over visiting Cal State Bakersfield Sunday afternoon in Peterson Gym. The win allowed the Aztecs to even their 2009 record at 13-13 as they won for the seventh time in their last 10 outings.
SDSU hit .415 for the match, its second-highest attack percentage of the season after hitting .466 against Air Force on Oct. 16. Defensively, the Aztecs held the Roadrunners to a .130 percentage.
Freshman Andrea Hannasch led all players with 11 kills and added seven blocks while hitting .625 over the three games. Three other Aztecs finished with 10 kills apiece including Hannah Evans, Paije Pearson and Kyley Sexton. Evans added 10 digs to notch her sixth double-double of the year while Pearson had six blocks.
Libero Kristi Jackels had eight digs to bring her season total to 405 and move her into the number-seven spot on the Aztec single-season list. In the process she passed former Aztec standout Angela Rock, who is now eighth on the list with 400 digs during the 1984 campaign.
Setter Lauren Van Orden's 38 sets on the day moved her closer to breaking into both the school top 10 lists for season and career numbers in that category. She now needs 58 over SDSU's final three matches to move into the single-season chart and 60 to break into the career top 10 list.
San Diego State came out and dominated the opening set, jumping out to a 6-1 lead and not allowing Bakersfield to get closer than that the rest of the way. Hannasch led the Aztecs with five kills while Evans and Sexton had four apiece. The Aztecs hit .536 for the contest while holding the Roadrunners to a .074 attack percentage.
The second set was a much closer affair with Bakersfield grabbing the early lead this time at 8-3. SDSU, however, slowly worked its way back into the contest. After trailing 14-10, it scored eight straight points to take the lead for good. During that run, the Aztecs got two kills apiece from Sexton and Lauren Salisbury and benefited from four Roadrunner hitting errors.
In set number three, San Diego State took a 10-7 lead, but was unable to put away form a determined Bakersfield side. The Aztecs' lead varied between two and three points until, at 15-13, SDSU was able to put four consecutive points together to take a 19-13 advantage and go on to the eight-point win to secure the match. Pearson led all players with six kills and three block assists in the set to account for 7.5 points.
San Diego State will be back in Peterson Gym on Thursday, Nov. 19, to take on Mountain West Conference foe Utah at 6:30 p.m. (PT). That contest will be televised live on The Mtn network.