Aug. 11, 2015
The San Diego State volleyball has opened practice for its 2015 campaign and is just over two weeks away from its season opener. The Aztecs return nine players including three starters and the libero from last year's squad that finished 14-15 overall and 9-9 (T-6th) in the Mountain West.
Leading the returnees is a trio of starters in middle blocker Kaja Sandberg and outside hitter Ciara Brown along with sophomore OH Alexis Cage.
Cage, who missed the first 10 matches of the 2014 campaign due to injury, led the Aztecs in kills a year ago with an average of 3.00 per set. Brown was right behind her at 2.75 per set while Sandberg was the team's top blocker averaging 0.99 per set along with just under two kills.
At the libero position SDSU welcomes back sophomores Alexa Saba and Devyn Pritchard, who split time at that spot. Pritchard averaged a team-best 2.97 digs per set while Saba finished with a 2.86 digs per set mark.
Among the other returning veterans are outside hitter Baylee Little, middle blocker Cassie O'Hara and defensive specialist Danielle Bolden. Little and O'Hara were part-time starters a year ago and averaged 1.96 and 1.35 kills respectively. In addition to her defensive abilities, Bolden led the Aztecs in service aces and finished third in that category in the final Mountain West overall statistics.
Also back is middle blocker Deja Harris, who redshirted as a freshman in 2014 after appearing in two early-season contests. Among SDSU's eight newcomers for the 2015 campaign is Harris' sister, Alex, a two-time second-team all-state selection and three-time all-conference honoree at Calvary Chapel High School in Las Vegas
Among the other new faces are a transfer from four-year school along with a pair of junior college athletes. That trio includes junior middle blocker Emma Fuzie (Pepperdine) along with junior Hailey Jones (setter, Irvine Valley JC) and soph middle blocker Jordan Conole (Pierce JC).
Fuzie started over half of the Waves' matches during her two seasons at Pepperdine while Jones was an two-time all-state and all-conference setter, leading Irvine Valley to the state championship last season.
Rounding out the 2015 squad is a quartet of highly honored freshmen including two from the state of California, one from Florida and an international athlete from Greece.
That foursome includes California natives Lauren Utchen (setter) and outside hitter Bailey Osborn. Utchen, who also played outside hitter at Monte Vista HS in San Ramon, was named first-team all-league, league MVP and an East Bay Player of the Year. Osborn, meanwhile, earned all-state and conference Player of the Year accolades at Redwood High School.
Alexandra Psoma, an outside hitter who has experience with the Greek national women's team both at the youth and senior levels, was named the First Division Rookie of the Year in Greece's top league and was also voted the U19 Best Spiker in her home country.
Rounding out the freshman class is outside hitter Alyssa Mathis from Spring Hill, Fla., where she was a two-time all-Suncoast (area) selection while leading her Bishop McLaughlin HS team to the regional semifinals each of the past two seasons.
San Diego State opens its 2015 season on Friday, Aug. 28, as it travels to northern California for the San Francisco Invitational. SDSU kicks off the season with a match vs. the host USF Dons that evening at 6:30 p.m. and will also have contests the following day (Saturday Aug. 29) against Denver at 10:30 a.m. and Cal State Bakersfield at 4:30 p.m.
The Aztecs' home opener comes a week later when it hosts a portion of the SDSU/USD Invitational beginning with a match against Pacific on Friday, Sept. 4, at 7:00 p.m. on Aztec court.