Oct. 21, 2010
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Air Force used a solid all-around performance to record its first Mountain West Conference win of the season as it defeated San Diego State, 3-1 (25-23, 16-25, 25-23, 25-23), Thursday night in Colorado Springs. The victory ended a seven-match losing streak for the Falcons, who improved to 4-17 overall and 1-7 in league play. SDSU, meanwhile, saw its record fall to 9-11 (3-4 MWC).
San Diego State had three players finish the evening in double figures in kills led by Kyley Sexton with 15. Summer Nash and Andrea Hannasch had 12 and 10 kills respectively with Hannasch also contributing a match-high seven blocks.
Aztec freshman setter Johnna Fouch had 44 assists and 12 digs as she recorded her seventh double-double of the season. Libero Kristi Jackels led SDSU with 13 digs and also recorded a kill and three assists from the back row.
Air Force's Caroline Kurtz led all players with 24 kills while teammate Annalyse Schmitt had 18. Falcon libero Kelly Spencer had 16 digs with teammates Jessica Hellman and Nichole Stillwell chipping in defensively with 13 apiece.
The opening set saw San Diego State take an early 3-1 lead and maintain that advantage with a late 23-20 lead. At that point, Air Force was able to score five straight points to win the set by a two-point margin. That run came courtesy of kills by Stillwell and Hellman, a service ace by Spencer and a pair of SDSU hitting errors.
In the second set the score was tied at 3-3 when the Aztecs score eight of the next nine points to jump out to an 11-4 lead. The Falcons could get no closer than five the rest of the way as SDSU had seven different players record kills while hitting .333 as a team.
After the break, the teams played a third set that saw the score tied on 13 occasions and the lead change hands five times before the contest settled at 23-23. From there an SDSU hitting error and a kill by Schmitt propelled the home side to the set win and a 2-1 advantage in the match.
The fourth set mirrored the third as the teams battled back and forth. This time the score went to 22-all before Air Force scored back-to-back points on a pair of kills by Schmitt. After the Aztecs closed the gap to a single marker at 24-23, Air Force clinched the set and match on a kill by Stillwell that sent the 629 fans in attendance spilling onto the court.
San Diego State will now move over to Las Vegas where it will take on UNLV on Saturday, Oct. 23, at 1:00 p.m. at Cox Pavilion.