Nov. 22, 2014
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - San Diego State saved its best all-around match for its home season finale as it defeated Utah State in three sets (25-15, 25-20, 25-18) Saturday evening on Aztec Court. It was appropriate on Senior Night that SDSU's lone fourth-year player, Chaiymin Steel, was instrumental in leading the Aztecs to victory.
Steel ended the night with 13 kills while hitting at a .545 clip over the three sets. She also contributed seven digs, a block and two assists and registered the final kill of the contest.
San Diego State hit .388 for the match, its highest team hitting percentage of the season. The Aztecs more than doubled the Aggies' kill total (51-24) on the night and held the visitors to a .169 attack mark.
Redshirt freshman Alexis Cage led all players with 14 kills while hitting .522. Frosh setter Courtney Eckenrode finished the contest with 40 assists and also chipped in with three kills, seven digs, a block and a service ace.
In addition, defensive specialist Dani Bolden recorded a career-high six service aces. It marked th most aces in a match by an Aztec since Aime Cordeiro had seven in a contest on Oregon on Sept, 9, 2006. Bolden also had two kills from the back row along with four digs.
The opening set saw the Aztecs take the lead for good at 4-3 and slowly build their advantage to 8-4. At that point SDSU ran off six straight points behind the jump serving of Bolden to go up 14-4. During that run Bolden recorded three service aces and a kill from the back line while Baylee Little added a pair of kills. Cage and Little led all players with four kills apiece in the set as the Aztecs had 15 as a team compared to only six for the Aggies.
The second set was a much closer contest that saw the teams tied as late as 19-19. From there San Diego State took the lead for good on an Aggie service error along with kills from Cage and Little to make it 22-19. After Utah State scored a point, the Aztecs got the final three points on an Aggie attack error, a kill by Ciara Brown and another service ace by Bolden. Cage registered a set-high five kills while Eckenrode has 15 assists on SDSU's 17 kills.
In set number three SDSU took a quick 4-1 lead and was never caught as it held off Utah State the rest of the way for the seven-point win. Steel made the most of her final home action as an Aztec as she led all players with eight kills in the set including the final two that secured the victory for San Diego State. Cage added five to her total as well while Eckenrode again notched 15 assists.
San Diego state will conclude its 2014 season on Tuesday, Nov. 25, when it travels to Las Vegas to take on UNLV in a match scheduled to get underway at 6:00 p.m. at Cox Pavilion.