Sept. 1, 2012
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State recorded its second straight three-set sweep of the weekend as it dispatched Montana 25-15, 25-15, 25-20 at the 2012 Holiday Inn Mission Valley Aztec Challenge in Peterson Gym Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Aztecs improved to 4-0 while the Grizzlies fell to 0-5.
SDSU used a balanced offense to register its fourth consecutive win to open the season as five Aztecs notched at least eight kills in the match. Sophomore Michelle Weber led all players with nine kills and also added a service ace, block and six digs to her stat line.
The Aztec threesome of Andrea Hannasch, Emily Harris and Chaiymin Steel all recorded eight kills and three blocks while teammate Summer Nash also had eight kills.
SDSU hit a season-high .438 over the three sets while the visitors ended the afternoon with a .143 attack percentage. Aztec setter Johnna Fouch had 27 assists with libero Kristi Jackels contributing 11 digs.
The first set was dead even over the first third of the contest with the score tied at 9-9. From there, San Diego State ran off eight straight points behind the serving of Johnna Fouch and a trio of kills by Waber to build a 17-9 lead and take control of the set. Hannasch led all players with five kills while Waber finished with four. SDSU totaled 17 kills in the contest and hit .389 compared to seven kills and a .100 attack percentage for the Grizzlies.
Set two saw the Aztecs jump ahead to stay early as they won seven of the contest's first 10 points and stretched their advantage to 10 points at 22-12 before winning the set by that margin. Nash recorded four kills while teammates Harris and Steel notched two blocks apiece.
In the third set San Diego State broke a 10-10 tie with a pair of kills by Steel. Two kills by Nash plus a Montana hitting error allowed the Aztecs to increase their lead to 17-12 and they maintained that five-point margin the remainder of the contest. Nash, Harris and Steel along with Raegan Shelton each chipped in with three kills in the set with Steel recording the match winner.
San Diego State will now face Utah State for the Aztec Challenge title at 7:30 p.m. tonight. Earlier in the day the Aggies defeated Sacred Heart in four sets. Montana will face Sacred Heart at 5:00 p.m.