Aug. 26, 2011
SAN DIEGO - The San Diego State volleyball team got its 2011 campaign off to the perfect start with a four-set win over UC Irvine Friday evening on Aztec Court at Peterson Gym. The victory ended a string of three straight losses to the Anteaters that included a five-set defeat during the 2010 season.
San Diego State junior middle blocker Andrea Hannasch, a preseason all-conference selection, lived up to her billing as she finished the match with 17 kills, 10 blocks and six digs along with a .500 hitting percentage.
SDSU's senior outside hitters Paije Pearson and Kyley Sexton made their presence felt as well. Pearson had six kills, eight blocks and nine digs with Seton chipping in with nine kills and seven digs. In addition, sophomore Andrea Terpstra, a sophomore transfer for the University of Pacific, recorded half a dozen kills with four blocks and a .308 attack percentage in her Aztec debut.
Setter Johnna Fouch turned in a double-double effort with 43 assists and 14 digs along with a pair of service aces while libero Kristi Jackels matched Fouch's dig total of 14.
UCI was led by a 23-kill performance by Aly Squires, who also contributed eight digs and three blocks, joining he in double figures in kills was teammate Marisa Bubica with 10.
The first set saw San Diego State jump out to a 6-3 lead only to see UCI tie the contest at 11-11. With contest knotted at 12 apiece, SDSU won three of the next four points and slowly built on that run for the six-point win. Summer Nash led the home side with four kills while Hannasch and Pearson had two locks each.
In set two, the Anteaters took the lead for good at 2-1 and built their advantage to as many as six points at 15-9. The Aztecs made a late surge and closed to within two points at 23-21, but the visitors got kills from Bubica and Squires to even the match at one set apiece. Squires led all players with six kills while Hannasch and Fouch had three apiece for SDSU.
The first half of set number three saw the teams within a point or two of each other until the score stood at 12-12. From there, San Diego State ran off 12 of the next 13 points behind the serving of Sexton and Jackels. Over that span, Hannasch had a pair of kills and two blocks while Terpstra and Pearson added a kill and two blocks apiece.
San Diego State took control of the fourth set as it took an 8-3 lead and never trailed in the contest. UC Irvine did come back to tie the score at 10-10, but three straight points for the home side gave the Aztecs a lead they would extend to five points at 19-14. The Anteaters, however, fought back to within a pint at 22-21 before two kills by Hannasch and one by Sexton secured the victory. Each of those players finished the set with five kills.
San Diego State continues play in the Aztec Invitational on Saturday (Aug. 27) with matches against Portland (at noon) and Nevada (7:00 p.m.). The tourney's other matches on Saturday will have UC Irvine facing Nevada at 10:00 a.m. and Portland playing the Anteaters at 5:00 p.m.