Oct. 21, 2011
SAN DIEGO - After dropping the opening set, San Diego State came back to defeat UNLV, 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-20), Friday evening on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym. With the victory the Aztecs maintain their hold on sole possession of second place in the Mountain West as they improved to 13-6 overall and 6-2 in league play.
Sophomore Raegan Shelton led SDSU with 21 kills as she tied her career high set earlier this season at TCU. She also tied her Aztec career best with four blocks and set a new personal high with 23.5 points in the match while hitting at a .378 clip.
Middle blocker Andrea Hannasch finished with 14 kills five blocks, three digs and an assists along with a .385 attack percentage. Her five block assists in the contest moved her into the No. 10 spot on the all-timer SDSU career list in that category.
Setter Johnna Fouch notched her seventh double-double of the season with 53 assists and 18 digs while libero Kristi Jackels recorded 16 digs and four assists. In addition, freshman Chaiymin Steel chipped in with 10 kills, four blocks and three digs.
UNLV was led by a 14-kill performance by Sekola Falemaka and was joined in double figures by teammates Makenzie Moea'i (12) and Madeline Westman (11).
San Diego State finished the night with a .273 hitting percentage compared to .132 for the rebels. The Aztecs led in every stat category including kills (63-47), assists (60-44), digs (59-55) and blocks (13-10).
The first set saw SDSU take the early lead at 8-5 only to see the Rebels rally for five straight points to go up 10-8. The visitors eventually extended their advantage to 20-14 and found themselves with four match points opportunities at 24-20. The Aztecs, however, fought back to close to within one at 24-23 on kills by Hannasch, Steel and a UNLV attack error, but the Rebels closed out the contest on a kill by Moea'i. Shelton and Westman led their respective teams with five kills apiece in the game.
Set number two saw San Diego State go up 3-2 and stay ahead over the remainder of the set. The Aztecs slowly opened their lead en route to the seven-point victory as Shelton added six kills to her total during the game with Moea'i leading the Rebels with three. SDSU hit .333 for the set after finishing with a .190 mark in the opening contest.
The third set saw the teams tied at 12-12 after which they were not separated by more than a point until the 20-20 mark when the Aztec ran off four straight points to take command of the contest. That four-point run came courtesy of a kill by Hannasch, service ace by Summer Nash and a pair of Rebel hitting errors. After UNLV got a point back, SDSU closed out the set on a kill by Shelton, who led all players with five in the game.
Set four was similar to the third as the teams were within at least two points of each other until San Diego State got kills from Hannasch and Steel plus a UNLV attack errors to go up 16-12. The Rebels got back to within three only once over the remainder of the game as the Aztecs finished off the set and match with a kill by Nash, who had six in the game along with three digs and a block.
Up next for San Diego State is a trip to Laramie for a Mountain West match against Wyoming on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 7:00 p.m. (MT) in the UniWyo Sports Complex.