Sept. 30, 2010
FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The San Diego State Aztec volleyball team came up just short in its attempt to upset the No. 18-ranked team in the country as it dropped a five-set decision (15-25, 25-20, 10-25, 25-19, 9-15) to Colorado State Thursday night at Moby Arena in Fort Collins. It was a battle of the unbeatens in Mountain West Conference play as the Rams (13-2 overall) moved to 3-0 in league play while SDSU fell to 2-1 in the MWC (7-8 overall).
San Diego State was without the services of senior middle blocker Lauren Salisbury, a two-time all-conference honoree who was injured in practice earlier this week and did not make the road trip with her teammates.
In Salisbury's absence, the Aztecs were led by middle blocker Andrea Hannasch, the current MWC Co-Player of the week, with 12 kills, five blocks, three digs and a .364 hitting percentage. Kyley Sexton was the only other SDSU player to end the evening in double figures in kills as she registered 11 along with four digs.
Freshman setter Johnna Fouch notched her fifth double-double of the season by posting 39 assists and 13 kills while libero Kristi Jackels led SDSU with 19 digs.
Colorado State's Danielle Minnich led all players with 16 kills while Jacque Davisson had 14 for the Rams along with five blocks. Middle blocker Megan Plourde, who shared Co-Player of the Week honors with SDSU's Hannasch, ended the match with eight kills and a .182 attack percentage.
In the opening set, CSU got off the mark quickly and ran out to an 11-3 advantage and led the rest of the way en route to the 10-point victory. In the second set, it was SDSU that led from start to finish, taking a 10-4 lead and maintaining that lead for the remainder of the contest.
After the break, the Rams came out determined to regain the momentum. The set was a tight one as the teams traded points until the score was 7-7. From there, the home team scored eight straight points to take control of the contest as it limited the Aztecs to a -.192 hitting percentage while hitting .500 themselves.
Once again San Diego State turned the momentum around in the fourth set. Ahead by a single point at 6-5, the Aztecs tallied five consecutive points to go up 11-6. CSU was unable to get any closer than four the rest of the way and the victory tied the match at two sets apiece.
In the fifth and deciding game, both sides scored three times each before Colorado State made a five-point run to take an 8-3 lead with four of those points coming on Aztec errors. Trailing 10-4, SDSU made one last run, but could only get within three points at 10-7 before the Rams regained control and finished off the match with Davisson getting three of the final four kills to secure the victory.
San Diego State will now move on to Laramie, Wyo., where it will take on the Wyoming Cowgirls on Saturday, Oct. 2, at 7:00 p.m. (MT) at the UniWyo Sports Complex.