Sept. 6, 2014
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State made it back-to-back victories at the SDSU-USD 2014 Challenge with a four-set win over Villanova (19-25, 25-22, 25-15, 25-16) Saturday evening on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym. The result improved the Aztecs to 2-3 while the Wildcats lost for the third straight time to fall to 3-3.
Veterans Halle Aiken (four blocks, six digs) and Baylee Little (four blocks, eight digs) led SDSU's attack with 11 kills apiece while freshman Jensen Cunningham had 10 kills along with six blocks. Junior middle blocker Kaja Sandberg matched her career high with eight block assists while Devyn Pritchard led the Aztecs with 13 digs.
Senior setter Chloe Mathis turned in her fourth double-double in five matches this season as she recorded 40 assists along with 11 digs. She also had a career-high four kills and added a block assist and service ace.
Lauren Carpenter registered a match-high 14 kills for Villanova and was the lone Wildcat to reach double figures in that category. He team ended the night with a .165 hitting percentage with the Aztecs recoding a .210 attack mark.
In the first set San Diego State forged an early lead at 9-6, but could not increase its advantage to more than three and Villanova eventually knotted the score at 15-15. The Wildcats then ran off three straight points and remained in control of the contest until finishing off a six-point victory. Villanova's Carpenter led all players with six kills while Aiken had five for the Aztecs.
The second set saw Villanova run out to a 16-10 lead before the SDSU offense came alive. The Aztecs scored the next eight points behind two kills apiece from Mathis and Aiken to take an 18-16 lead. The home side held at least a two-point advantage the rest of the way en route to the set win. Aiken and Little led SDSU's attack with four kills each.
San Diego state took control early in the third set as it turned a 7-6 lead into a 12-6 lead with five straight points and built on that six-point advantage over the remainder of the game. Cunningham led all players with four kills. Neither team was particularly efficient on offense as the Aztecs compiled a .160 hitting mark to -.037 for the visitors with a total of 16 kills between the squads.
SDSU continued its momentum into the fourth set as it jumped out to an 8-3 lead to seemingly take control. But the Wildcats came back to within two at 9-7 before the Aztecs grabbed six of the ensuing seven points with the help of four Villanova errors to go up 15-8. The visitors could only get within five the rest of the way as Cunningham and Chaiymin Steel paced SDSU with three kills apiece.
San Diego State concludes weekend play at the SDSU-USD 2014 Challenge with a contest against Cal State Fullerton on Sunday (Sept. 7) at 1:00 p.m. on Aztec Court.