Oct. 7, 2012
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - San Diego State saw a two-set lead go by the way side, but came back to win the fifth and deciding contest to register a 3-2 (26-24, 25-21, 21-25, 21-25, 15-10) win over visiting UNLV Sunday afternoon on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym. With the victory the Aztecs improved to 11-6 overall and 3-2 in the Mountain West as they handed the Rebels (12-6, 4-1 MW) their first conference loss of the season.
For the second straight match, junior outside hitter Raegan Shelton led the Aztecs in kills as she recorded 20 along with four blocks, three digs and a service ace. Andrea Hannasch finished the day with 19 kills and added five blocks and eight digs to her final stat line while Summer Nash had 15 kills, four blocks and three digs.
Johnna Fouch contributed season highs of 55 assists and 16 digs as she recorded her third double-double of the 2012 season. Elsewhere Emily Harris chipped in with six blocks while libero Kristi Jackels led the Aztecs with 19 digs.
UNLV's Daryn Glenn tied SDSU's Shelton for match-high honors with 20 kills while teammates Katlin Winters and Sekola Falemaka had 13 and 11, respectively.
In the opening set San Diego State took the lead at 2-1 and held it for a major portion of the contest. The Aztecs, however, could only build their advantage to as many as three points and saw the visitors finally tie the contest at 23-23 and win the next point to have the first opportunity to win the set. The Aztecs had other ideas as though as consecutive kills by Shelton, Nash and Hannasch gave the home side the two-point victory.
The second set was similar to the first as SDSU took the early lead, was unable to pull away and saw the Rebels g ahead in the late going at 21-20. But again the Aztecs showed their determination as they got kills by Nash and Harris, a UNLV hitting error and a pair of service aces from Fouch to take the set and go up 2-0 in the match. Shelton led all players in the game with seven kills.
The third set saw UNLV take the early lead and hold the upper hand until SDSU tied the contest bat 18-18. Unlike the first two sets, this time it was the Rebels who were able to fight off the challenge as they led the rest of the way and closed out the set courtesy of a kill by Glenn and back-to-back Aztec hitting errors. SDSU's Hannasch and UNLV's Winters led the way for their teams with six kills apiece while Glenn added five for the Rebels.
Set number four was the closest of the afternoon as the score was tied on 13 occasions with the final time coming at 20-20. From there UNLV won three straight points on an SDSU attack error and kills by Glenn and Winters. After an SDSU point, the Rebels closed out the set on a Winter kill and another Aztec hitting error. Shelton and Falemaka had six kills apiece for their respective teams.
In the fifth set the teams traded points until it was 4-4 before the Aztecs opened a three-point lead on a kill by Hannasch and a pair of UNLV hitting errors. The Rebels won the ensuing point to make it 8-6, but they would get no closer the rest of the way as the Aztecs were able to hold off the visitors with Hannasch getting SDSU's final three kills to nail down the set and match victory.
San Diego State will continue conference play later this week when it travels to Idaho to take on Boise State on Thursday, Oct. 11, at 7:00 p.m. in Bronco Gym.