Nov. 27, 2010
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - San Diego State brought down the curtain on its 2010 volleyball season as it fell to New Mexico in three sets (25-17, 25-21, 25-12) Friday night at the Johnson Center in Albuquerque. With the loss, the Aztecs finished with a record of 16-16 overall and 8-8 in the Mountain West Conference.
Middle blocker Lauren Salisbury led SDSU with 10 kills and a .476 hitting percentage. The senior middle blocker ends her Aztec career with 1,004 kills and a .329 hitting percentage with the latter ranking fifth-best in school history. She also recorded 342 block assists during her four years at San Diego State, a figure which goes into the San Diego State record book as the ninth-highest total in a career.
Junior Jessica Peacock had seven kills and added four total blocks against the Lobos on Friday while fellow Aztec Andrea Hannasch had four kills and matches Peacock's blocking number.
New Mexico's Ashley Rhoades led all players with 11 kills while Taylor Hadfield ended the night in double figures as well with 10. The Lobos hit just .179 for the match, but held the Aztecs to a .055 attack percentage. The home side totaled 43 kills over three sets while SDSU had 28.
The opening set was an evenly played affair that saw the Lobos take the lead for good at 14-13, an advantage they extended to four at 17-13. Two quick points courtesy of a pair of UNM hitting errors closed the gap to two (17-15), but from there New Mexico went on to score seven of the final nine points including three on kills by Lisa Meeter to win the set.
Set two was another close contest with the Aztecs fighting back from a five-point deficit at 17-12 to knot the score at 21-21. The Lobos, however, held firm and scored the next four points to go up two sets to one in the match. Those final four Lobo points were the result of two SDSU hitting errors plus kills by Rhoades and Kelly Williamson.
The third set had the teams within a point of each other until, at 14-14, UNM put together a five-point run to take control of the contest. San Diego State was able to work it s way back and trailed by only two at 23-21, but a service error was followed by a kill from Williamson to end the set and match in favor of the Lobos.
In addition to SDSU's Lauren Salisbury, three other Aztecs finished the 2010 season with their names etched into the school record book. Andrea Hannasch's season mark of 129 block assists ranks as the ninth-best total in school history. Libero Kristi Jackels' 433 digs this season goes into the record list as the eighth-most ever by an Aztec. And freshman setter Johnna Fouch's assist total of 1,239 is the 10th-highest in school history.
Despite the loss to New Mexico, San Diego State concluded its 2010 season with its most wins and highest winning percentage since the 2005 campaign. It also finished the season at .500 or better for the first time since that same season.