Oct. 10, 2015
FRESNO, Calif. - San Diego State saw Fresno State fight back from a two-set deficit before prevailing in the fifth game as it defeated the Bulldogs 28-26, 25-15, 23-25, 18-28, 15-11 Saturday afternoon at the Save Mart Center in Fresno.
The victory ended a four-match losing streak for the Aztecs, who improved to 5-13 on the season and 2-4 in the Mountain West. Fresno State, meanwhile, saw its record fall to 10-9 overall and 2-3 in league play.
Redshirt freshman Deja Harris led the Aztecs with a career-high 19 kills, the highest total in a match this season by an SDSU player. She hit .471 over the five sets while adding four blocks and a dig to her final stat line.
Junior Baylee Little also ended the day in double figure in kills with 12 while hitting at a .524 clip. Little also chipped in with a pair of blocks and four digs.
Setter Lauren Utchen registered her first career double-double with 20 assists and a career-best 14 digs while fellow setter Hailey Jones had 25 assists, a service ace and two digs.
Libero Devyn Pritchard also set a career best with 31 digs to lead all players while also contributing six assists and a service ace. Emma Fuzie led all players with six blocks and added nine kills with a .444 hitting percentage.
The opening set was a tight affair with neither side able to forge more than a two-point lead. With the score eventually settling in at 24-24 and the Aztecs had two chances to win the contest only to see the tie extended to 26-all. At that point, SDSU got a kill from Alexis Cage and a FSU attack error to claim the set win. Harris had four kills to lead SDSU, which hit .424 in the set.
The second set saw the teams trade points to open the contest before San Diego State scored six of the next seven points to take the lead for good at 7-2. From there the Aztecs slowly built on that advantage and went on to the 10-point victory. Little had four kills in the set as SDSU continued its good offensive form with a .314 hitting percentage. Pritchard had 10 digs in the contest to anchor SDSU's defensive effort.
After the intermission Fresno State began its comeback with a two-point win in the third set. SDSU had a 13-10 lead before the Bulldogs recovered to tie the game at 16-16. The contest was close from there and at 23-23 the home side used an Aztec attack error and a kill for the set win.
In the fourth set San Diego State had its only lead at 2-1 before Fresno State rallied to go up 15-10. The Aztecs could only get as close as two points at 18-16 before FSU scored seven of the ensuing nine points to win the set and even the match at 2-2. Harris had six kills to lead SDSU, but the team hit just .118 while the Bulldogs turned in a .417 team hitting mark.
In the deciding fifth set, San Diego State scored the first two points and never looked back as it led from start to finish. The Aztecs built a four-point advantage at 6-2, but were unable to extend their lead as Fresno State closed to within two at 12-10. SDSU then used a kill by Cage and a bad Bulldog set to go up 14-10 and set up four chances at match point. After a Bulldog kill, Harris knocked down the match winner as the visitors claimed the set and match victories.
San Diego State will now return home where it will play four of its next five matches beginning with a contest against Utah State on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 6:00 p.m. on Aztec Court.