Sept. 17, 2011
CHICAGO - The San Diego State volleyball team won one and lost one on day two of the Depaul Invitational in Chicago as it defeated the host school in three sets in its morning match before falling to Valparaiso Saturday evening.
Sophomore settter Johnna Fouch was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 12.30 assists and 2.60 digs per set over the Aztecs three matches. She also accounted for six kills and had only one attack error for a .556 hitting percentage. It marked the second consecutive all-tourney award for Fouch, who also received the honor at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Clasic hosted by Tulane during the weekend of Sept. 2-3 in New Orleans.
Sophomore Summer Nash also enjoyed an standout day as she averaged 4.25 kills over the Aztecs' two matches on Saturday while recording a .375 attack percentage. In addition, Kristi Jackels tallied 4.75 digs per set from her libero position.
In its opening match of the day, San Diego State (5-3) dispatched host DePaul (3-9) by scores of 25-14, 25-14, 25-19. The Aztecs more than doubled the kill total of the Blue Demons (46-22) while hitting .355 over the three sets, their highest attack percentage of the season.
Nash and Andrea Hannsch led SDSU with nine kills appiece while hitting .412 and .375 respectively. Sophomore Emily Harris finished with eight kills with Paije Pearson and Raegan She;ton contirbuting seven apiece. Kristi Jackels led all players with 15 digs.
In the opening set, San Diego State jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead and cruised to an 11-point victory. Nash paced the Aztecs with five kills with Raegan adding four as SDSU hit .357 for the set while holding DePaul to a .043 attack percentage.
The second set saw San Diego State open up a six-point advantage at 11-6 and it was never threatened the rest of the way. The Blue Demons were unable to get any closer than three over the remainder of the contest as SDSU resitered another 11-point win. Nash, Shelton and Hannasch each registerd three kills as the Aztec hit .444 to just .031 for the host school.
In set number three, the Aztecs took the lead for good at 10-9 in what was the closest of the three games. Harris tallied four kills and a pair of blocks to pace the SDSU offense, which built a six-point lead (18-12) and mantained that margin en route to the set and match victory.
In its match Saturday evening San Diego State played a trio of close sets, none of which went its way in a 25-21, 25-23, 25-22 loss to Valparaiso (10-5).
Nash led all players with 16 kills while hitting .355 as the Aztecs totaled 10 more kills than the Crusaders (46-36). Hannasch added eight kills to her total for the day along with a pair of blocks while Jackels recorded 14 digs.
In the first set, Valparaiso held a slim 22-21 lead late in the contest, but a pair of kills and an SDSU hitting error secured the final three points for the Crusaders. Set two was tied at 23-23 before the Crusaders got back-to-back kills to go up 2-0 in the match. The third set saw SDSU trail by four at 17-13, but come back to tie it at 20-20. However, Valparaiso took control from there winning five of the final seven points thanks to a service ace, two kills and a pair of Aztec miscues.
San Diego State now returns home for a contest against Cal State Fulletrton on Tuesday (Sept. 20) at 6:00 p.m. on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym before opneing its 2011 Moiuntain West season next Friday at UNLV.