Nov. 2, 2013
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State ran its current win streak to three straight matches as it defeated New Mexico, 3-0 (29-27, 25-17, 28-26), Saturday afternoon on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym. With the victory the Aztecs improved to 12-10 overall and 7-5 in the Mountain West.
Senior outside hitter Raegan Shelton led SDSU with 15 kills and a season-high .324 hitting percentage while also recording one block. Fellow Aztec Summer Nash registered a dozen kills with a .333 attack percentage along with two blocks and a pair of digs.
Christie Ring, making her first start at the libero position, notched 12 digs and also chipped in with a kill, dig and four assists. Setters Johnna Fouch and Chloe Mathis finished with 29 and 15 assists respectively with Fouch adding a pair of service aces and two digs.
For New Mexico, Cassie House led the way with 12 kills with Chantale Riddle recording 10 as both players also totaled three blocks apiece.
SDSU ended the match with a .348 team hitting percentage compared to a .214 mark for the Lobos. Over their last three contests the Aztecs are hitting .317 as a team.
In the opening set, San Diego State led from the outset and found itself up 23-18 late in the contest. The Aztecs, however, let a golden opportunity to close out these set escape them as the Lobos rallied to eventually tie the score at 24-24. After the teams exchanged three points apiece to make it 27-all, a service ace by Fouch and a Lobo attack error allowed SDSU to emerge with the two-point victory. Shelton and Kaja Sandberg led the Aztecs with four kills apiece while UNM's House accounted for seven of her side's 16 kills in the contest.
Set number two was an entirely different story as the Aztecs dominated from the outset en route to an eight-point win. SDSU forged a five-point advantage at 11-6 before going on to expand its lead to 12 points at 20-8. From there they coasted to the victory led by seven kills from Shelton in the set including the game winner along with four kills from Nash.
The third set was almost an exact repeat of the opening contest as San Diego State led most of the way and had three match point opportunities at 24-21. But once again the Lobos proved resilient as they scored four straight points and had a chance to win it before a Shelton kill tied it up at 25-25. An ensuing kill by Shelton gave SDSU a chance to win it, but UNM tied it at 26-26 on a kill by Riddle. At that point a third kill from Shelton along with a New Mexico hitting error provided the Aztecs with the two points they needed as they captured the set and match victory.
Up next for San Diego State is a pair of road matches next week that begins with a contest at San Jose State on Thursday, Nov. 7, at 7:00 p.m. in Spartan Gym.