Aug. 31, 2012
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State used its height and blocking skills to its advantage as it defeated Sacred Heart, 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-20), Friday evening in opening-day action at the Holiday Inn Mission Valley Aztec Challenge on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym. It was SDSU's third victory without a loss this season while the Pioneers fell to 1-3.
As a team the Aztecs accumulated 13.0 blocks over the three sets while Sacred Heart finished the evening with none. Senior Andrea Hannasch led the way with eight blocks while teammates Emily Harris and Halle Aiken had six and five respectively.
Outside hitter Summer Nash led SDSU's offensive attack with 10 kills with Chaiymin Steel chipping in with eight and Michelle Waber adding six. San Diego State hit .363 for the match as a team while holding Sacred Heart to a .084 attack percentage.
The Aztecs used a trio of setters on the night with freshman Tanna Aljoe making her San Diego State debut. Johnna Fouch appeared in all three sets and finished with 16 assists. Aljoe and sophomore Chloe Mathis each had eight assists over two sets. In addition, junior defensive specialist Kyla Oropeza led all players with 10 digs.
The opening set went back-and-forth in the early going before San Diego State, trailing 8-7, won eight of the ensuing nine points to take a 15-9 lead. From there the Aztecs built on that advantage as they opened up a 10-point lead at 24-14. The visitors tried to mount a comeback and scored three in a row before SDSU closed out the contest on a kill by Waber. Both Waber and Steel tallied four kills apiece in the set while the Pioneers' Natalie Kridel led all players with five.
The second set saw the Aztecs with the upper hand early as they opened up a six-point advantage at 11-5. Sacred Heart, however, fought back to tie the contest at 15-15 before proceeding to commit four straight hitting errors and allow SDSU to re-take the lead at 19-15. From there the home side went on to win six of the next eight points to capture the set and take a 2-0 lead in the match. Nash had four kills in the contest to pace the Aztec attack while Harris and Aiken contributed three blocks apiece.
Set three was an evenly contested affair that saw the score knotted at 19-19 before the Aztec got kills from Steel and Raegan Shelton to go up 21-19. After the visitors closed to within a point before a Pioneer hitting errors and a pair of SDSU kills closed out the set and match. Nash and Steel had three kills each for SDSU while Hannasch and Shelton accounted for three blocks apiece in the set.
Action continues at the Aztec Challenge Saturday morning beginning at 9:30 a.m. with Sacred Heart taking on Utah State. San Diego State will face Montana in second of the day's four matches at noon.