Sept. 5, 2015
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - San Diego State concluded play at the SDSU/USD 2015 Challenge with a pair of losses on Saturday. The Aztecs dropped a three-set decision to TCU (29-27, 25-15, 25-22) in the morning match and followed that with a four-set setback at the hands of Oregon State (25-20, 20-25, 26-24, 25-19) in the tourney finale Saturday night.
With Saturday's pair of losses San Diego State finds itself with a record of 1-5 on the young season. TCU's record stands at 5-1 while Oregon State improves to 2-4.
In the contest vs. OSU, three Aztecs finished in double figures in kills including Deja Harris (12), Ciara Brown (11) and Emma Fuzie (11). Fuzie led SDU with a .562 hitting percentage while Harris had four blocks.
In addition to that trio, sophomore Devyn Pritchard led all players with 14 digs while setter Hailey Jones added 46 assists and six digs.
Although they recorded more kills (50-47), assists (47-44) service aces (6-5) and digs (47-42) than the Beavers, the Aztecs also had nine more attack errors and hit .165 over the four sets compared to .221 for OSU.
The first two sets were mirror images as each side claimed an almost identical 25-20 win. In the opener it was Oregon State that grabbed the early lead at 4-3 and held it the rest of the way. The second set saw the Aztecs score the opening three points and hold the advantage the remainder of the contest.
The third set was a close affair that saw the lead change hands eight times. SDSU looked to have the contest in hand when it forged a late 24-22 lead with two opportunities at match point. But Oregon State used a pair of kills and two Aztec attack errors to score four consecutive points and go up 2-1 in the match.
The disappointing loss may have had an effect on San Diego State as it fell behind at 11-8 in the ensuing set and was unable to catch up in an eventual six-point loss.
In the early match, the Aztecs got 10 kills apiece from Brown and Baylee Little, but hit just .127 for the match in the three-set loss to TCU. Jones added 35 assists while Fuzie had a career-best five blocks in the match. Pritchard tie for match-high honors with high 11 digs.
The first set was close form start to finish as the teams were never separated by more than two points until SDSU grabbed a 23-20 lead. After a timeout, TCU came back to tie the score at 23-23 and from there the teams traded points up to 27-27. At that point the Horned Frogs got back-to-back kills to grab the set victory.
Set two saw SDSU with the early lead before TCU went ahead 9-8 and maintained the lead the rest of the way. The Aztecs stayed close and trailed by only a point at 13-12 before the Frogs won five of the ensuing six point to take control of the contest. The visitors led 18-14 and won the game going away by scoring seven of the final eight points. Little led all players with four kills, but TCU hit .474 for the set as a team compared to just .099 for SDSU.
In the third set, the Frogs took the lead for good at 8-7 and extend it to as many as six points at 21-15. The Aztecs fought back to get within two points at 22-20, but their comeback fell short as they dropped the set and match. Little had five kills while Fuzie notched three kills and three blocks.
San Diego State will now get ready to travel to the islands to compete in the Outrigger Resorts Volleyball Challenge in Honolulu. The Aztecs will open that tourney with a contest vs. 17th-ranked Hawai'i on Thursday, Sept. 10, at 7:00 p.m. (HT) in the Stan Sheriff Center.