Oct. 2, 2011
Playing its third match in the last seven days, the San Diego State volleyball team was unable to pull off the upset Sunday afternoon, falling to visiting and 21st-ranked Colorado State, 3-1 (25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 25-18) at Peterson Gym. With the loss, the Aztecs dropped to 8-5 and 1-2 in the Mountain West, while the Rams stayed perfect in league play at 4-0 and improved to 10-3 overall in 2011.
SDSU was paced offensively by junior Andrea Hannasch (New Braundels, Texas), who had 12 kills, and Paije Pearson (Chandler, Ariz.), who recorded 10 kills. Sophomore setter Johnna Fouch (Redlands, Calif.) fell one dig short of a double-double with her 44 assists and nine digs, while also converting all four of her attack attempts. Aztec junior Kristi Jackels (Playa del Rey, Calif.) was solid defensively with 18 digs and contributed three of the team's four service aces.
Colorado State opened the afternoon by building a 5-1 lead, capitalizing on three Aztec hitting errors. The Rams' advantage would increase to six points, before SDSU closed the gap all the way to just two at 19-17 heading into a timeout. The two points would be as close as the Aztecs got, as three straight kills, including the final two by CSU's Katelyn Steffan, sealed the 25-19 win for the visitors.
After hitting just under eight percent as a team in dropping the second set 25-20, San Diego State jumped out to an early 10-4 lead in the third. Colorado State, which recorded only nine kills on 30 attack attempts, battled back to get to within two at 21-19. The two sides then traded points twice before a kill by Hannasch and one from sophomore Summer Nash (Seattle, Wash.) gave the Aztecs the game three win at 25-21.
The fourth set was tied on six occasions early, before the Rams went on a 5-0 run and ended up hitting a game-high .438 to cruise to a 25-18 decision and post the 3-1 victory.
CSU was dominant at the net with 12 blocks to SDSU's three, while also hitting at a combined clip of .355. The Rams were led by Katelyn Steffan's 18 kills and Dana Cranston's double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs.
The Aztecs will hit the road next Thursday for a conference match at TCU, beginning at 7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT in Fort Worth, Texas.