Sept. 11, 2010
HONOLULU - San Diego State concluded play at the Verizon Wireless Volleyball Challenge in Honolulu with a five-set loss to UC Irvine at the Stan Sheriff Center on the campus of the University of Hawai'i Saturday evening. It was the first five-set match of the year for the Aztecs as the Anteaters were victorious by set scores of 21-25, 25-20, 25-20, 24-26, 15-11.
The loss was the third straight for SDSU, which saw its record drop to 5-4 on the season. UCI, meanwhile, ended a two-match losing streak and improved to 3-5.
A trio players recorded double-doubles for the Aztecs led by Kyley Sexton, who finished with a team-high 18 kills along with 21 digs. Her dig total represented a career high for the junior outside hitter from Salem, Ore.
Andrea Hannasch completed her double-double effort with a 13-kill, 10-dig performance. She also finished with three blocks, three assists and a service ace to account for 15.5 points over the four sets.
The Aztecs' third double-double as turned in by freshman setter Johnna Fouch, who had 40 assists and also set a career best with 32 digs. It marked the first time an SDSU player had more than 30 digs in a match since former libero Aime Cordeiro had 34 against Air Force on Nov. 2, 2007.
Kristi Jackels and Kyla Oropeza chipped in with 15 and 13 digs respectively as San Diego State ended the night with 108 digs as a team, its highest single-match total in over 10 years.
After leading from wire-to-wire and winning the opening set, SDSU dropped the ensuing two contests to fall behind 2-1 after three games. Trailing 18-15 in the fourth set and seemingly on the verge of losing the match, the Aztecs rallied for four straight points to take the lead and go on to a close 26-24 win to even the match at two sets apiece.
In the fifth and deciding set, the teams battled evenly over the first half of the contest and saw the score knotted at 7-7 at the mid-point of the game. UCI then scored three consecutive points with a pair of kills and a service ace to go ahead 10-7. The Anteaters were able to maintain that three-point advantage the rest of way and go on to capture the set and match.
Up next is a match against 25th-ranked University of San Diego on Friday, Sept. 17, at 7:00 p.m. in Peterson Gym. That match is part of the USD/SDSU Challenge tournament that will see UC Santa Barbara facing 12th-ranked Minnesota at 5:00 p.m. that same evening.