Oct. 8, 2015
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - San Diego State was unable to overcome a two-set deficit as it dropped a 3-1 decision to UNLV Thursday night at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas. Despite winning the third set, the Aztecs fell to the Rebels by set scores of 25-17, 25-21, 23-25 and 25-16.
Sophomore defensive specialist Danielle Bolden, making her first collegiate appearance at the outside hitter position, led SDSU with 14 kills while hitting .355 over the three sets. She just missed her first career double-double as she ended the evening with nine digs along with a block and an assist.
Redshirt freshman Deja Harris also finished in double figures in kills with 12 and hit .429 for the match. She added two blocks, two digs and an assist to her final stat line as well. In addition, Baylee Little contributed 11 kills and also recorded a pair of digs.
Sophomore libero Devyn Pritchard ended the night with a career-high 23 digs along with a service ace and assist. Her dig total bettered her previous personal best of 22 set against Ohio in August of last season.
Setter Hailey Jones recorded her fourth double-double of the year with a 26 assist-10 dig effort while fellow setter Lauren Utchen just missed a double-double with 18 assists and nine digs.
San Diego state scored the first two points of the opening set, but UNLV tied the contest at 3-3 and took the lead for good with the ensuing two points. The Rebels slowly built their advantage to as many as eight points at 20-12 and went on to the eight-point set win. Harris had seven kills to lead the Aztecs.
The first half of set number two was an evenly-contested affair that saw the teams deadlocked at 12-12 midway through the contest. UNLV then proceeded to run off five straight points to take control of the set, allowing the Aztecs to only get as close as three the rest of the way. Bolden had four kills to pace the SDSU attack.
The third set featured 18 tied scores and nine lead changes as the teams were never separated by more than two points until the game settled in to its final deadlock at 23-23. From there San Diego State got kills from Harris and Bolden to capture the set. Bolden was SDSU's offensive star in the contest with eight kills.
In set number four, UNLV ran out to a 12-3 lead aided by a half dozen SDSU attack errors. The Aztecs were unable to recover and could only get as close as five at 18-13 before the Rebels scored seven of the contest's final 10 points to claim the set and match victory. The SDSU offense struggled in the set, finishing with a team hitting percentage of -.023 and a total of 11 kills.
San Diego state will now move on to Fresno where it will face off against Mountain West foe Fresno State on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 1:00 p.m. at the Bulldogs' Save Mart Center.