Oct. 30, 2014
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State put a scare into No. 7 Colorado State before falling to the Rams in five sets Thursday evening on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym. The Rams claimed the win by set scores of 25-15, 23-25, 20-25, 25-17, 15-5 as they won for the 19th straight time and improved to 23-1 overall and 11-0 in the Mountain West.
The Aztecs, who extended Colorado State to five sets for the first time this season, saw their record drop to 10-11 overall and 5-5 in conference play.
Senior Chaiymin Steel and redshirt freshman Alexis Cage led San Diego State with 12 kills apiece while teammate Halle Aiken also finished in double figures with 10. Cassie O'Hara led the Aztecs with four blocks while libero Alexa Saba registered 18 digs.
Freshman setter Courtney Eckenrode ended the evening with 44 assists and added 14 digs to complete her fifth double-double of the season. Defensive specialist Dani Bolden turned in a pair of kills and 14 digs from the back row along with two service aces and an assist.
Colorado State's Kelsey Snider led all players with 14 kills in the match while Arianna Culbert and Jasmine Hanna had a dozen each.
Colorado State started out quickly in the opening set as it ran out to a 9-4 lead with four of the Rams' points coming on blocks. CSU built its lead over the course of the contest en route to the 10-point victory. Culbert led the visitors with five kills as the Rams totaled 17 in the set compared to just nine for SDSU. Jensen Cunningham led the Aztecs with three kills in the game.
The second set was a much different affair as the teams stayed within one point of each other after SDSU had a short-lived 3-1 lead until it was 20-20. The Aztecs then scored back-to-back points on a Ram service error and kill by Cunningham. CSU, however, responded with two of its own to once again knot the score at 22-22.
After the teams traded points, San Diego State got a kill from Aiken and a combination block by O'Hara and Steel to wrap up the win and tie the match at one set apiece. Aiken, Steel and Cage had four kills each as the Aztecs hit .345 in the set.
Set number three was another tight one as the teams were never separated by more than two points with the score settling in at 19-19. San Diego State then put together five straight points on a pair of kills by Steel, one by Cage and two Ram hitting errors. An SDSU service error gave CSU a point before Cage ended the set with another kill. Both Steel and Cage ended the game with five kills apiece as the Aztecs hit .343 for the set while holding the Rams to a .053 attack percentage.
The fourth set began with a 3-3 tie before Colorado State took the lead for good with three straight points. The Rams built their lead to as many as five points before the Aztecs fought back to within one at 18-17. But from there the visitors tallied the ensuing seven points for the win. No SDSU player recorded more than two kills in the set as the Aztecs hit just .024 as a team.
The fifth and deciding set was all Colorado State as the Rams turned an early 5-4 lead into a13-4 advantage with eight straight points. Hanna led the Rams with four kills as CSU hit .667 and held SDSU to just three total kills and a -.125 hitting percentage in the set.
San Diego State will wrap up its current three-match home stand with a contest against Wyoming on Saturday, Nov. 1, at 1:00 p.m. (PT) on Aztec Court.