Oct. 30, 2011
LARAMIE, Wyo. - After dropping the opening two sets, the San Diego State volleyball team mounted a comeback effort only to see it fall short as the Aztecs fell to Wyoming in five sets at the UniWyo Sports Complex Saturday night. The Cowgirls avenged a 3-0 defeat in San Diego in late September, winning the match by scores of 25-23, 25-22, 20-25, 19-25, 15-9.
With the victory, Wyoming improves to 17-9 overall and 7-4 in the Mountain West as it passes SDSU to move into third place in the league standings. The loss dropped the Aztecs to 13-8 as they fell into fourth place with a 6-4 record in conference play.
San Diego State was led by Andrea Hannasch, who finished with a match-high 14 kills along with six blocks and a pair of digs while hitting at a .345 clip. Sophomore Reagan Shelton also finished in double figures in kills for the Aztecs with 13 and added five digs, two service aces and an assist.
Setter Johnna Fouch had a season-high 31 dugs, one shy of her career best and recorded 54 assists to notch her ninth double-double of the 2011 campaign. Kristi Jackels contributed 16 digs and a pair of service aces while Emily Harris had nine kills and five blocks.
Reese Plante was the lone Cowgirl to hit doubles figures in kills with 11 as the Aztecs finished with more total kills than Wyoming (61-46). SDSU, however, ended the match with more errors than the home side (41-28). San Diego State compiled a .106 hitting percentage over the five sets, just higher than the .104 turned in by the Cowgirls.
Wyoming won the first two sets after the Aztecs had made late runs to get close. In the opener, the Cowgirls had a 16-10 advantage only to see the Aztecs get within a point at 22-21. UW was able to hold off the SDSU charge to register the win. In the second set, Wyoming held a late 21-16 lead before SDSU climbed back to within two at 24-22, but it was too little too late and the Cowgirls grabbed a 2-0 lead in the match.
After the break, the Aztecs came out and took control of the third set midway through the contest, winning seven of eight points with the game tied at 13-13 to go up 20-14 en route to a five-point victory. The fourth set was tied at 16-all before SDSU took the lead for good thanks to a kill by Kyley Sexton and a pair of UW hitting errors. The Cowgirls stayed close and trailed by one at 20-19, but were able to win only one of the set's final six points after that.
The fifth a deciding set saw the teams trade points up to 7-7 before a kill, service ace and SDSU attack error gave Wyoming a three-point lead. From there the Cowgirls went on to outscore the Aztecs 5-2 to take the set and match as Plante recorded three kills over than span.
San Diego State now returns home for a two-match home stand which begins with a contest against New Mexico on Thursday, Nov. 3, at 7:00 p.m. on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym.