Oct. 17, 2013
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - San Diego State was unable to overcome a sluggish start Thursday evening and eventually dropped a four-set match to the Wyoming Cowgirls by scores of 25-15, 25-22, 21-25, 25-22. It was only UW's second win in San Diego in 22 attempts in the all-time series between the teams.
SDSU (9-8, 4-3 Mountain West) was led by 12 kills from Chaiymin Steel, who also contributed three blocks and a service ace. Emily Harris (.426, six blocks) and Summer Nash (3 blocks, 5 digs) chipped in with 10 kills apiece.
Setter Johnna Fouch recorded her ninth double-double effort of the season with 33 assists and 13 digs while libero Courtney Vaccarello notched a team-high 18 digs in the match.
Wyoming's Bridget Shanahan led all players with 13 kills with teammate Erin Kirby, who leads the nation in blocking this week, adding 10 blocks.
Both teams finished with 55 kills on the night, but San Diego State committed almost twice as many hitting errors (34-18) and finished with a .128 team attack percentage compared to the Cowgirls' .236 mark.
Wyoming grabbed the early momentum in the opening set as it raced out to an 11-4 lead and did not allow the Aztecs back into the contest. SDSU hit just .075 in the set as they were unable to get anything going offensively. Freshman Baylee Little accounted for three of the Aztecs' 11 kills in the set while the Cowgirls' Reese Plante led all players with five.
San Diego State got off to a better start in set two as it took a 6-1 lead out of the gate. But Wyoming fought back and eventually knotted the score at 10-all before SDSU reeled of three straight points to go up 13-10. From there, however, the visitors scored six consecutive points to take a 16-13 lead and they would not be caught the rest of the way. The Aztecs got back to within a point at 17-16, but five in a row by the Cowgirls gave them control of the set as they went on to the three-point victory.
The third set saw San Diego State fall behind early, but come back to take the lead for good at 7-6. The Aztecs built their advantage to as many as six points at 18-12 only to have the Cowgirls close to within a point at 21-20. But a kill by Harris and a service ace by Vaccarello gave SDSU a three-point cushion at 23-20 and they went on to the four-point win. Steel led the Aztecs with five kills in the contest.
Midway through the fourth set Wyoming built a three-point advantage at 16-13 and did not allow the Aztecs to pull even the remainder of the contest. SDSU narrowed the gap to two points at 20-18 before Wyoming scored three in a row to take a 23-18 lead. The Cowgirls, up 24-20, had two match-points thwarted by a kill from Harris and a hitting error, but Kirby recorded the set-winning point with a kill to secure the match victory for Wyoming.
Up next for San Diego State is a match against league-leading Colorado State on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 7:00 p.m. on Aztec Court. CSU will enter that contest undefeated (16-0; 7-0 MW) and ranked 12th in the nation.