Nov. 4, 2010
SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah women's volleyball team exacted a measure of revenge for a five-set loss in San Diego last month as it defeated San Diego State, 3-1 (25-15, 24-26, 25-16, 25-21) in Salt Lake City Thursday night. The loss dropped the Aztecs to 12-13 overall on the year and 5-6 in the Mountain West Conference.
For the fourth time in the last five matches freshman Summer Nash recorded a career high in kills, finishing with 16 to tie for match-high honors with teammate Andrea Hannasch and Utah's Karoline Bartkowiak. Nash also had three blocks and three digs while hitting a team-high .333 over the four sets.
In addition to her 16 kills, Hannasch finished the evening with four blocks and seven digs. Setter Johnna Fouch turned in her ninth double-double of the season with 47 assists and 13 digs. Her dig total was match by libero Kristi Jackels. SDSU's Raegan Shelton also reached the double-figure mark in kills with a dozen and also had six digs and a block.
In addition to Bartkowiak, Danielle Killpack had 12 kills for the Utes and the twosome hit .407 and .421 respectively. As a team, Utah had a .317 attack percentage compared to a .194 for SDSU.
The Utes (12-12; 7-3 MWC) got off to a quick start in the opening set as they raced out to a 7-1 lead and were not threatened over the remainder of the contest. The Aztecs were only able to crawl back to within four at 13-9, but from there the home side steadily pulled away. Bartkowiak had four kills in the game, a number matched by SDSU senior Kelsey Manasco.
Set two saw San Diego State take an early lead which it built to as many as six points at 20-14. At that point the Utes began a comeback that had them scoring nine of the next 12 points to tie the contest at 23-23. After the teams traded points, the Aztecs were able to win the set with a service ace by Kyla Oropeza and a Ute hitting error.
In the third set Utah led from start to finish as it grabbed a 4-0 advantage and slowly built on that over the course of the game. Killpack and Morgan Odale each had five kills for the Utes while Hannasch recorded the same number for the visitors.
The fourth set was a closer affair that had the score tied at 14-14 midway through the contest. A pair of kills by Erin Redd and an SDSU hitting error gave Utah a three-point lead and it was able to hold off the Aztecs the rest of the way. With the Utes leading 23-19, a pair of kills by Hannasch gave SDSU some hope, but Utah used a kill by Brooke McAlister and an SDSU attack error to close out the set and match.
San Diego State will now move over to Provo, Utah, where it will face Brigham Young on Saturday, Nov. 6, at 7:00 p.m. (MT). That game will be televised live on BYU-TV and will also be streamed live on the Internet (at BYUTV.org).