Nov. 20, 2012
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State put an exclamation point on its first-ever Mountain West volleyball championship with a three-set victory over Nevada (25-13, 25-11, 25-17) Tuesday evening on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym. With the win, their 12th straight to close out the regular season, the Aztecs improved to 23-7 overall and 13-3 in the Mountain West.
Junior Raegan Shelton led all players with 12 kills on the night and also contributed two blocks and three digs. Teammate Emily Harris finished with nine kills and a match-high four blocks with a .615 hitting percentage over the three sets while senior Andrea Hannasch recorded seven kills, a block and six digs.
SDSU setter Johnna Fouch had another solid all-round performance as she notched 34 assists, eight digs, two kills, two blocks and a service ace.
For Nevada, Tessa Lea'ea accounted for 10 of her team's 22 total kills in the match as the Wolf Pack was held to a .033 hitting percentage. SDSU led in every statistical category and finished with a .327 team attack mark.
In the opening set the teams were even after the first 12 points of the contest 6-6 before San Diego State ran off nine of the next 10 points to open up a 15-6 advantage and take control of the set. Nevada would get no closer the rest of the way as the Aztecs were led by five kills from Shelton. The visitors hit just -.103 in the contest compared to .242 for SDSU.
San Diego State came out for the second set and did not let up as it ran out to a quick 8-0 lead behind three kills by Chaiymin Steel and another two plus a block by Shelton. The Aztecs slowly built their advantage over the rest of the contest en route to the 14-point victory. Hannasch and Steel tallied four kills apiece to lead SDSU.
Set three was more of the same as the home side jumped out to a 4-0 lead and extended it nine points at 15-6. The Wolf Pack fought back to within four at 20-16, but a service error followed by two kills from Shelton and two more from Harris closed out the match for SDSU. Shelton and Harris led the Aztecs with five kills each in the set with Harris contributing a pair of blocks as well.
SDSU's 2012 Mountain West title could be shared with Colorado State as the Rams (12-3 Mountain West) host New Mexico in Fort Collins Friday night. A Rams' victory would give CSU the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament as they hold the tiebreaker against SDSU.
The Aztecs will now await their fate concerning the NCAA Tournament with the selection tourney show scheduled to be televised live on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. (PT) on ESPNU.