Nov. 13, 2014
SAN DIEGO - After a slow start that saw them drop the first set the Aztec volleyball squad roared back to capture the next three sets and defeat San Jose State 18-25, 25-12, 25-19, 25-13 Thursday night on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym. With the victory SDSU improved to 12-13 overall and evened its 2014 Mountain West ledger at 7-7.
The Spartans, meanwhile, saw their record fall to 4-23 overall and 1-13 in conference play.
Redshirt freshman Alexis Cage led San Diego State with 14 kills with six digs, two blocks and a .414 hitting percentage. Fellow Aztecs Kaja Sandberg and Baylee Little also ended the evening in double figures in kills with 12 and 10 respectively. Sandberg added a match-high six blocks and hit .524 over the four sets while Little registered a personal season-best .318 hitting mark.
Setter Courtney Eckenrode notched her seventh double-double of the 2014 campaign by ending the night with 49 assists and 13 digs. Devyn Pritchard led all players with 14 digs in the match with senior Chaiymin Steel chipping in with eight kills, four blocks and eight digs.
San Diego State hit .315 for the match as a team while limiting San Jose State to a .108 attack mark. It was first time this season that the Aztecs compiled a team attack percentage above the .300 mark.
The opening set was an evenly contested affair early as the teams traded points until San Diego State took a 9-8 lead. From there, however, San Jose State scored eight straight points to take control of the set with a 16-8 advantage. The Aztecs could get no closer than five the rest of the way as the visitors went to the seven-point win. SDSU actually finished the set with 13 kills to 10 for the Spartans, but SJSU blocking plus a number of San Diego State errors proved to be the difference. Eckenrode, Steel and Cage tallied three kills apiece for the Aztec.
Set number two saw a reversal of roles for the teams as the Aztecs turned a one-point lead at 11-10 into a six-point advantage by running off five consecutive points. After the Spartans countered with a point, SDSU scored six more in a row to essentially put the contest away at 22-11. Cage had four kills to lead all players while Sandberg contributed three blocks.
San Diego State opened the third set with a pair of points and held the lead from the outset until the visitors knotted the score at 17-17. The Aztecs then rallied for three straight points on kills by Steel, Cage and Sandberg. The Spartans got back to within two at 20-18, but SDSU scored five of the game's final six points for the victory. The Aztecs hit .484 in the set and were led by six kills from Sandberg.
In the fourth set San Diego state broke an early 1-1 tie with three straight points and maintained the advantage over the remainder of the contest. San Jose State was within three at 9-6 after which the teams exchanged three points apiece before kills by Cage and Steel gave the home side a 14-9 lead. Both sides scored twice apiece before SDSU went on a six-point run to take a 23-12 lead before eventually ended in the set and match on a kill from the back row by Dani Bolden.
San Diego State will be back in action on Saturday, Nov. 15, when it hosts Nevada on Aztec Court at 6:00 p.m. (PT).