Oct. 26, 2010
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State Aztec volleyball team recovered from a slow start to defeat UC Riverside, 3-1 (21-25, 25-19, 25-17, 25-18) Tuesday evening in Peterson Gym. SDSU won for the third time in its last four outings to improve to 11-11 on the year while the Highlanders saw their record fall to 2-22.
Four Aztecs ended the night in double figures in kills led by 13 apiece from Summer Nash and Kyley Sexton. Nash's total represented a career high for the freshman, who hit .417 for the match. Sexton also contributed five blocks and five digs.
Sophomore Andrea Hannasch record 12 kills and set a career best with 17 digs to complete a double-double effort. Her five block assists tied for match honors with Sexton and teammate Paije Pearson. Senior Kelsey Manasco's dozen kills were a personal season best as she also set a new career high with a .550 hitting percentage over the four sets and finished with four block assists and seven digs.
Setter Johnna Fouch notched her eighth double-double of the season with 53 assists and 11 digs. The freshman from Redlands, Calif., also had a career-high six kills along with a .714 attack percentage.
As a team, San Diego State hit .375 for the match while holding the Highlanders to a .161 attack percentage. After losing the first with a .250 hitting percentage, the Aztecs went on to hit .443 over the final three contests.
In the opening set the teams stayed within a point of each other until midway through the contest when the scored was knotted at 13-13. From there UC Riverside went on a 9-1 run to take a commanding 22-14 lead. SDSU tried to come back, but the deficit was too large and the visitors eventually claimed the four-point victory. UCR's Annishia McKoy led all players with five kills while the Aztecs were paced by four from Kyley Sexton.
Set two saw San Diego State jump out to a 4-0 lead and maintain their advantage the rest of the way en route to evening the match at one set apiece. Three Aztecs contributed four kills apiece in the contest including Andrea Hannasch, Kelsey Manasco and Sexton. Riverside's Kelly Simpson led all players with five kills, but as a team SDSU recorded 18 kills to 11 by the Highlanders.
The third set was similar to the second as San Diego State took an early 5-1 lead and was never caught. The closest UCR could get was within three points at 6-3 as the Aztecs played steady offense behind a balanced attack that featured seven different players with at least two kills each. SDSU hit .556 for the contest while holding UCR to a .161 hitting percentage.
The fourth set looked to be more of the same as San Diego State grabbed the lead at 4-2 and slowly opened its advantage to five points at 17-12. UCR, however, fought back to get within a point at 18-17 before SDSU ran off five straight points on a pair of kills by Hannasch and three Highlander errors to regain control of the set at 23-17. After UCR scored, another pair of errors by the visitors ended the set and match in the Aztecs' favor.
San Diego State will resume Mountain West Conference play when it hosts Wyoming on Thursday, Oct. 28, at 7:00 p.m. (PT) in Peterson Gym.