Nov. 9, 2013
FRESNO, Calif. - The San Diego State volleyball team wrapped up its latest road trip with a three-set loss to Fresno State as the Bulldogs prevailed by scores of 28-26, 25-18, 25-7 Saturday afternoon at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif. With the loss the Aztecs saw their overall and Mountain West records fall to the .500 level at 12-12 and 7-7 respectively.
Emily Harris led SSU's offense with 12 kills as she was the lone SDSU player to finish the day in double figures in that category. She did so with a .409 hitting percentage and also contributed five blocks and a dig.
Fellow Aztec Summer Nash chipped in with nine kills while freshman Baylee Little had seven. Libero Christie Ring had 11 digs to lead the Aztecs while setter Johnna Fouch had 28 assists with Chloe Mathis registering 15.
Fresno State (16-10, 10-4 MW), meanwhile, had four players in double figures in kills led by Korrin Wild with 16. The others included Marissa Brand (13), Holly Franks (11) and Maci Murdock (10).
The Bulldogs ended the afternoon with a .358 attack percentage as they committed only nine errors over the three sets. In contrast, the Aztecs compiled a .205 hitting percentage with 20 errors.
The opening set was the closest of the match and the outcome may have had an effect on SDSU over the ensuing two contests. That first set saw the score tied on 19 occasions. With the contest knotted at 24-24, a kill by Emily Harris gave SDSU the first match-point opportunity, but an Aztec service error re-tied the set at 25-25.
The Bulldogs then had three match points of their own with the Aztecs holding them off with a kill by Raegan Shelton, an FSU hitting error and a kill by Kaja Sandberg. With the score now reading 28-28, the Bulldogs got a kill from Wild followed by an SDSU attack error to win the set.
Set number two was close in the early going with the score tied on three occasions, the last being 7-7. From there Fresno State won three of the next four points as it took the lead for good and did not trail at any point over the remainder of the match. Wild and Brand had six kills apiece for FSU in the set as the home side hit .425 while holding the Aztecs to a .153 mark.
In the third set the Bulldogs raced out to a 4-0 lead and did not allow SDSU to catch up. The closest the Aztecs got the rest of the way was at 16-14, but FSU tallied the next three points and built their advantage to an eight-point victory as it captured the set and match.
San Diego State now returns home where it will host UNLV on Monday, Nov. 11. At 5:00 p.m. (PT) on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym.