Oct. 8, 2016
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State completed a successful two-match home stand with a three set victory (28-26, 25-17, 25-21) over San Jose State Saturday afternoon on Aztec Court. The win was the third straight and eighth in the last 10 matches for the Aztecs, who improved to 12-7 overall and 4-1 in the Mountain West.
Three Aztecs ended the day in double figures in kills led by sophomore outside hitter Alexandra Psoma with 17. She hit .438 over the three sets and added three digs and a block to her final stat line.
Teammates Emma Fuzie and Hannah Turnlund recorded 10 kills each as the Aztecs ended the afternoon with a total of 52 kills compared to 31 for the visitors.
Fuzie also contributed three blocks and a dig while Turnlund came off the bench to hit .316 with a block and two digs.
Setter Lauren Utchen, making just her second start of the year, had career highs of 44 assists and three kills while notching three digs as well.
Defensive specialist Danielle Bolden had a match-high 15 digs as she reached double figures in that department for the eighth time this season.
The opening set saw San Jose State (8-10, 1-5 MW) take the early lead by as many as four points at 12-8 before San Diego State fought back to tie the contest at 14-14. From there the match stayed even until the Spartans took a 24-23 lead with a chance at set point, only to be thwarted by a service error. The visitors had two more chances to take the set, but a kill by Turnlund and another SJSU service error kept SDSU in the contest
With the set knotted at 26-all, SDSU used an SJSU hitting error and a kill by Fuzie for the two-point win. Turnlund led the Aztecs with six kills in the contest with Psoma contributing five and Fuzie four.
In the second set, San Diego State jumped out to a 4-0 lead and held the advantage over the remainder of the contest. The Spartans were able to get back to within a point at 12-11, but the Aztecs re-established control of the sent, slowly building their lead en route to the eight-point win. Psoma had five kills in the contest while teammates Fuzie and Turnlund collected four apiece.
Set number three saw San Jose State with the early lead (6-3) only to have San Diego State go on top 10-9. The teams went back and forth over the remainder of the contest until, at 19-19, the Aztecs ran off four straight points to go up 23-19. After a Spartan point, Psoma's kill gave her team a chance at set point at 24-20. SJSU stayed alive with a point to make it 24-21 before Alexis Cage ended the set and match with a kill.
The Aztecs will now prepare to travel to Laramie for a Mountain West match against Wyoming on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 6:30 p.m. (MT).