Sept. 21, 2013
LAS VEGAS - San Diego State began its 2013 Mountain West season with a four-set loss at UNLV Saturday afternoon in Las Vegas. The Rebels prevailed by set scores of 22-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-20 as they evened their season record at 5-5 in what was also their league opening match. San Diego State saw its record fall to 5-6 on the year.
Michelle Waber led the Aztec with 15 kills with Summer Nash contributing 11 along with four blocks. No SDSU player (other than setter Johnna Fouch) managed to hit as high as .200 in the match as SDSU finished with a team hitting mark of .137 over the four sets.
Fouch (two kills on five attempts) notched another double-double as she registered 13 digs to go along with her 45 assists. Emily Harris led the Aztecs in blocking with five while libero Courtney Vaccarello chipped in with 20 digs a three assists.
The opening set saw the score tied on 11 occasions with the final time coming at 20-20. San Diego State then rattled of three straight points on a Rebel service error and attack error plus a kill by Chaiymin Steel. The teams then traded points with Fouch getting the set-winning kill to put SDSU up 1-0.
The second set was another tight affair in a contest that went to 12-all before the Rebels scored seven in a row to take control. The Aztecs got back to within two at 20-18, but were unable to complete a comeback. UNLV's Sekola Falemaka had eight kills in the set on her way to a match-high 20 for the home side.
In set three, the Aztecs took a quick 5-1 lead, but were unable to sustain the momentum as UNLV caught up at 5-5. SDSU again took a small lead and held the advantage at 16-13 before the Rebels ran off five straight points to go up 18-16. San Diego State came back with two straight points and the teams then exchanged points up until 20-20 when UNLV got back-to-back kills from Daryn Glenn and held that lead the rest of the way.
The fourth set was more of the same as another close contest saw the score knotted at 15-all before a UNLV five-point run gave the Rebels the momentum that carried them to the set and match victory.
San Diego State will now look forward to a three-match home stand that begins with a match against Mountain West foe Nevada on Saturday, Sept. 28, at 7:00 p.m. on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym.