Oct. 20, 2016
LOGAN, Utah -Utah State got a measure of pay back against San Diego State as it defeated the Aztecs in five sets (22-25. 25-20, 25-13, 20-25, 15-11) Thursday night at the Wayne Estes Center in Logan, Utah. The result was the reverse of the decision achieved by SDSU in late September when it downed the Aggies in five sets on Aztec Court in San Diego.
The loss was the fourth in the last five outings for San Diego State, which saw its record fall to 13-10 overall and 5-4 in the Mountain West. Utah State, meanwhile, improved to 9-11 on the year (4-5 MW).
Deja Harris and Alexandra Psoma ended the evening with 12 kills apiece for SDU with freshman Ashlynn Dunbar adding 11 of her own. Harris added six blocks and a pair of digs while Psoma had four blocks, six digs and an assist. Dunbar also chipped in with two blocks and six digs.
Setters Lauren Utchen and Indigo Thompson had 26 and 20 assists respectively as the Aztecs used a 6-2 formation against the Aggies. Libero Devyn Pritchard led SDSU with 11 digs over the five sets.
In the opening set, San Diego State held the advantage over the first half of the contest as it opened up as lead of as many as six points at 15-9. Utah State, however, rallied and tied the score at 20-20 before the teams traded points to go to 21-all. From there SDSU won three consecutive points on a an Aggie attack error, service ace by Thompson and kill by Psoma to go up 24-21, After a kill by the home side, Psoma finished off the set in SDSU's favor with another kill as she finished the set with four, a number matched by teammate Dunbar.
Set number two saw Utah State score the first two points and lead from start to finish. The Aggies slowly built their advantage to seven points at 19-12, but allowed SDSU to get back to within three at 23-20 before finishing off the five-point contest win. The Aztecs had 12 kills in the set and were led by three from Alexis Cage.
Although the third set was tied on seven occasions, all of those deadlocks came early in the contest before Utah State broke an 8-8 tie with three straight points. The Aztecs were held in check over the remainder of the set as the Aggies cruised to a comfortable 12-point win. SDSU recorded only six kills in the contest and were held to a .038 hitting percentage.
Trailing two sets to one, San Diego State jumped out to a 10-5 advantage in the fourth set and held off the Aggies for an eventual five-point victory to even the match at two apiece. Psoma, Harris and Dunbar had three kills each to lead the Aztec offense.
In the fifth and deciding set, the lead went back and forth over the first third of the contest up until 6-6, at which point Utah State won three consecutive points to take a 9-6 lead. The Aztecs fought back to within a points at 10-9, but again the Aggies expanded their advantage to three points and led 12-9.
San Diego State, however, won the next two points on kills by Harris and Danielle Bolden to get within a point once more at 12-11, but USU proved to be too much as a kill combined with an SDSU attack error and a combination block gave the home side the final three points and the set and match victories. Harris had five kills to lead all players.
The Aztecs now return home where they will have a week to prepare for a two-match home stand that gets underway next Thursday, Oct. 27, with a match against Air Force at 6:00 p.m. (PT) on Aztec Court.