Oct. 23, 2014
FRESNO, Calif. - San Diego State picked up its second straight conference road victory with a four-set decision over Fresno State Thursday evening at the Save Mart Center in Fresno. The Aztecs prevailed by set scores of 25-18, 18-25, 25-14, 25-21 to improve to 9-10 overall and 5-4 Mountain West play.
The Bulldogs, meanwhile, lost for the fifth straight time and saw their record drop to 6-18 (1-8 MW).
SDSU was led by the play of junior outside hitter Halle Aiken who turned in a career-high 17 kills along with a season-best .486 hitting percentage. She also added nine digs, two blocks and a service ace to her final stat line.
Aiken was the lone Aztec to finish the night in double figures in kills as she accounted for almost a third of her team's total. Kaja Sandberg ended the evening with eight kills and three blocks with Alexis Cage chipping in with eight kills, five digs and block.
Freshman setter Courtney Eckenrode tied her SDSU career high with 51 assists in the match and with 11 digs recorded her fourth double-double of the 2014 campaign. Libero Alexa Saba led the Aztecs with 15 digs while Cassie O'Hara topped all players with five blocks.
The early stages of the opening set showed an evenly-contested affair as the teams alternated points up to 7-7. But San Diego state won five of the next six points to take command of the contest. That run included a pair of kills by Cage along with one from Sandberg and a service ace by Chaiymin Steel. Cage had a set-high five kills while Sandberg contributed four as the Aztecs secured a seven-point win.
Fresno State came out with renewed energy in the second set and scored the first eight points to go up 8-0. The Aztecs got back to within four at 18-14, but the Bulldogs fought of the SDSU comeback attempt and went on to a seven-point win of their own to even the match at one set apiece. Aiken provided seven kills in the game, but the Aztecs hit just .075 as a team.
The third set was a tight one in the early going as the teams played to a 7-7 tie similar to the opening contest. This time, however, it was the Aztecs who would pull away, winning eight of the ensuing nine points to go up 15-8. The Bulldogs would get no closer than six the rest of the way as SDSU slowly built upon its lead and eventually captured the set by 11 points. Aiken continued to pace the Aztec offense with five kills in the game.
Set number four was the closest of the four even though San Diego State led from start to finish. The Aztec opened the contest by going up 5-1 on a service ace and kill by O'Hara plus three hitting errors by Fresno State. SDSU's lead was narrowed to two points at 11-9, but the Aztecs opened up a seven-point advantage later in the set at 21-14. Aiken added five more kills to her total including the set and match winner.
The Aztecs will now return home for a three-match home stand that begins with a contest vs. UC Irvine on Monday (Aug. 27) at 6:00 p.m. on Aztec Court.