Oct. 15, 2015
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - San Diego State made it back-to-back victories as it recorded a three set (25-17, 25-17, 25-23) win over visiting Utah State Thursday evening on Aztec Court. The results improved SDSU to 6-13 overall and 3-4 in the Mountain West while the Aggies fell to 5-16 (1-6 MW).
Junior outside hitter Bayle Little led the Aztecs with 11 kills while hitting .409 over the three sets. Deja Harris added eight kills with a .667 hitting percentage.
As a team San Diego State turned in a .354 attack mark on the night, its highest hitting percentage in a match this season.
Libero Devyn Pritchard ended the evening with 14 digs while she along with teammates Hailey Jones and Alexis Cage each recorded a pair of service aces. Danielle Bolden just missed her first career double-double as she had eight kills and nine digs in the match.
In the opening set, San Diego State built lead of three or four points on three occasions in the early portion of the match only to see Utah State get back to within a point each time. The Aztecs finally took control of the contest by scoring five straight points to open up a 20-13 advantage en route to the eight-point set win. SDSU spread the offense around in the contest as four players finished with three kills while Jones had seven assists and a pair of service aces.
Utah State had the better of the second set early before SDSU tied the contest at 8-8. From there the Aztecs took the lead for good with three consecutive points to go up 11-8. The visitors stayed close, but with SDSU leading 18-16, the home team scored five in a row behind the serving of Jones to run out to 23-16 lead. The final two points of the set came on an Aggie attack error and a service ace by Cage. Harris had four kills in the set while Cage chipped in with three.
Set number three was the closes of the night as the Aztecs took the lead at 4-2, but were unable to shake the Aggies, who never trailed by more than four. Utah State eventually tied the contest late on at 21-21 before a kill by Cage and an Aggie ball handling error gave SDSU a two-point cushion (23-21). The teams then traded the next three points with USU closing the gap to 24-23, but Dani Bolden's eighth kill of the match provided the Aztecs with the set and match victory.
The Aztecs return to action on Saturday, Oct. 17, when they host Mountain West foe Boise State in a match set to get underway at 1:00 p.m. (PT) on Aztec Court.