Oct. 30, 2010
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State saw a three-match win streak come to an end as it dropped a three-set match to 14th-ranked Colorado State (26-24, 25-18, 25-15) Saturday night in Peterson Gym. The loss evened SDSU's record both overall (12-12) and in Mountain West Conference play (5-5).
The Aztecs were led by freshman outside hitter Summer Nash, who tallied 10 kills to finish in double figures in that category for the fifth straight match. She also had a pair of blocks and two digs. Fellow freshman Raegan Shelton contributed nine kills over the three sets while sophomore Andrea Hannasch led the Aztecs with three blocks.
Colorado State (20-5; 9-0 MWC) was led by Megan Plourde, Jacque Davisson and Danielle Minch with 11 kills apiece. Plourde also had a match-high eight total blocks as the Rams finished with a team total of 10.5.
In the first set, the teams were within a point or two of each other for much of the contest. At 20-20, the teams alternated points until San Diego State held a 24-23 lead with a chance to claim the win. But a kill by Minch, an SDSU hitting error and a service ace by Audrey Hemmings ended the game in the Rams' favor. Plourde let CSU with five kills while Nash finished with five for the home side.
Set number two saw Colorado State jump out to a 9-3 lead and take control from there. Although the Aztecs rallied to make it a 10-7 contest, the Rams went on to score nine of the next 11 points and eventually won by a comfortable seven-point margin. CSU hit .381 in the contest while holding the Aztecs to a -.100 attack percentage.
Colorado State continued on the offensive in the third set as it grabbed a 9-3 lead from which the Aztecs could not recover. Minnich led all players with five kills in the contest, almost matching the Aztecs' total of seven. Four Ram service aces and seven SDSU hitting errors also contributed to the visitors' victory as they won their 11th consecutive match.
San Diego State will now prepare for its annual road swing to the Beehive state where it will face Utah on Thursday, Nov. 4, at 7:00 p.m. (MT) in Salt Lake City.