Nov. 3, 2012
FRESNO, Calif. - San Diego State regained sole possession for first place in the Mountain West as it came from a set down to defeat Fresno State, 3-1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-23), Saturday afternoon at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif. With their seventh straight victory, the Aztecs improved to 18-7 overall and 9-3 in conference play as they moved into a half-game lead on Colorado State (8-3) and a game up on UNLV (7-3) which hosts Nevada later tonight.
SDSU had four players end the day in double figures in kills led by Summer Nash with 16 as she also finished the match with three blocks. Michelle Waber had 15 kills while teammates Emily Harris recorded 12 and Andrea Hannasch 11. Harris and Hannasch also notched five and three blocks respectively with Hannasch completing a double-double effort with 10 digs.
Setter Johnna Fouch had a season-high 61 assists and with 14 digs upped her double-double count for the season to seven. In addition, libero Kristi Jackels led all players with 20 digs over the four sets.
Korrin Wild led Fresno State with 14 kills with Lauren Albertson chipping in with 11.
The Aztecs totaled 70 kills to 52 for the Bulldogs, and SDSU's .333 hitting percentage was its second highest in a match in 2012.
In the first set, Fresno State scored the opening three points and led from start to finish although San Diego State got to within a point on five occasions, the last time coming at 23-22. At that point the Bulldogs got a kill by Marissa Brand and an SDSU hitting error to claim the three-point set win.
Set two saw four lead changes before the Aztecs went ahead for good at 9-8. From there SDSU slowly built its advantage to 23-16 before a pair of kills by Waber gave the visitors the eight-point victory and evened the match at one set apiece. Waber and Nash led all players in the game with four kills apiece.
In the third set it was San Diego State that led from the start and jumped out to a 10-4 and did not allow FSU to get closer than three the rest of the way. SDSU went on to the six-point win with the help of a set-high six kills each from Waber and Nash.
The fourth set was a tight affair that saw SDSU with the lead in the late going, but the teams separated by only one or two points down the stretch. With a 23-22 lead, the Aztecs got a kill by Hannasch, but an SDSU service error got the Bulldogs to within a point once again at 24-23. Nash, however, made no mistake on the next play as she put away the set-winning kill to give the Aztecs the match victory.
San Diego State now returns home for a three-match home stand that begins with a Mountain West contest against Air Force on Thursday, Nov. 8, at 7:00 p.m. on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym.