Oct. 25, 2012
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State roared back from an opening set loss to defeat Colorado State, 3-1 (24-26, 25-20, 26-24, 25-15), Thursday night on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym. The win ended SDSU's 22-match losing streak at the hands of the Rams as it improved to 15-7 overall and 6-3 in the Mountain West to move into a tie for second place.
Raegan Shelton led the Aztecs with 16 kills on the night and hit .359 while contributing five digs. Teammate Michelle Waber added 15 kills of her own along with a pair of service aces four digs and a block while Andrea Hannasch had another excellent overall effort with 12 kills, three blocks, eight digs, two assists and an ace with a .385 hitting percentage.
Junior setter Johnna Fouch finished with 48 assists and added two kills, seven digs and a season-high tying three blocks. Libero Kristi Jackels also notched a season best with 28 digs while chipping in with three assists.
Colorado State's Dana Cranston tied Shelton for match-high honors with 16 kills with fellow Rams Megan Plourde and Brieon Page adding 14 apiece.
San Diego State hit .311 for the match, its highest mark since mid-September, while the Rams (13-7, 6-3 Mountain West) hit .241. The Aztecs led in all stat categories (kills, assists, aces and digs) with the exception of team blocks where CSU held a 7.0-6.0 advantage.
The opening set saw Colorado State hold the upper hand as it took a 10-6 lead only to see SDSU comeback to tie the contest at 13-13. The Rams then took a two-point lead, but the Aztecs quickly tied the score. That same scenario played out three more times with SDSU tying the score each time, but unable to get ahead until it finally went up 22-21. The teams went on to trade points from there until the score was knotted at 24-all. The visitors then got kills from Page and Kaila Thomas to claim the set victory.
In set two, San Diego State held the upper hand early as it jumped out to a 10-6 lead only to have Colorado State fight back to within a point at 15-14. A Ram service error and kill by Shelton gave the Aztecs a three-point advantage and they held off the Rams, who could only get back within two on two occasions before SDSU went on the 5-point set win.
The third set was another tight affair with the teams tied at 22-22 late in the contest. After each scored a pair of points to make it 24-24, The Aztecs got a kill by Waber followed by a CSU hitting error to take the set. Waber led all players with six kills in the set while Fouch and Emily Harris had two blocks apiece for SDSU.
After winning the third set, San Diego State came out determined to close out the match and was unstoppable after a 3-3 opening as it built a 14-4 lead. Six of the Aztecs' 11 points during that run came from kills by Hannasch as she hit .545 in the set. SDSU controlled the tempo the rest of the way with the Rams only getting as close as five at 18-13. At that point the home side responded with four straight points aided by a pair of kills by Waber and another by Hannasch.
San Diego State will wrap up its current three-match home stand with a contest against Mountain West foe Wyoming on Saturday, Oct. 27, at 1:00 p.m. on Aztec Court.