SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State volleyball team fell in a closely contested four-set (25-27, 22-25, 25-21, 22-25) contest against Portland to conclude the 2018 Aztec Invitational on Saturday night at Peterson Gym. Junior outside hitter Ashlynn Dunbar and senior middle blocker Deja Harris were both named to the 2018 Aztec Invitational All-Tournament team after standout performances over the weekend.
Dunbar led the Aztecs in the first set, nearly posting a double double in the first frame alone with seven kills on 14 swings with seven digs. The Aztecs held a 24-22 advantage in the first set, but failed to convert on match point on back-to-back services after Portland's Shayla Hoeft posted a kill and a block to knot the score at 24-24. With the score tied at 25-25, the Pilots took the lead on a Reghan Pukis kill before an SDSU attack error gave clinched the set for Portland and gave the Pilots the early 1-0 advantage.
Portland grew its lead to 2-0 despite another standout showing from Dunbar, who increased her kill total to 13 with an additional six kills in the second set. After the Pilots grabbed an 8-7 lead on an SDSU service error, Portland never relinquished that lead in the second frame and went on to take the set, 25-22.
With its back against the wall, SDSU responded with a third set win largely in thanks to another six kills by Dunbar and a team hitting percentage of .303. SDSU never trailed in the set after grabbing an early 6-5 lead after a Dunbar kill and later clinched the set on a Hoeft attack error to cut Portland's lead to 2-1 with a 25-21 second-set victory.
Looking to force their third consecutive five-set match, the Aztecs trailed by just two late in the set after a Portland attack error brought the score to 23-21. Unfortunately for the Aztecs, their last-chance effort to pull off the comeback fell short after Portland's Liz Reich and Izzy Guzik posted the match's final two points.
Dunbar finished her evening with 22 kills, setting a new career-high for the junior. Delaney Taylor quarterbacked the offense at setter, posting an early-season best 52 assists, while Dunbar and Lauren Lee each posted a match-best 13 digs.
Harris and Hannah Turnlund also turned in double-digit kill performances with 17 and 13, respectively.
NOTES
- Ashlynn Dunbar's 22 kills set a new career-high for the junior, and is the most in a match among any active Aztec. Dunbar's 20+ kill performance is the sixth by an Aztec over the last five seasons and the most since Alexandra Psoma recorded 24 against Colorado State on Nov. 10, 2016.
- Dunbar recorded three service aces in the loss, bringing her season total to 14, which surpasses her total over 108 sets played last season, of 12. For the weekend, Dunbar led all Aztec Invitational players in service aces and finished the weekend averaging one service ace per set.
- Dunbar's 22-kill, 13-dig performance provided the junior with her second double double of the season. Dunbar was just one dig shy in SDSU's win over Seattle of recording a double double in all three matches this weekend.
- SDSU finished 1-2 on the weekend despite having advantages in total kills (193-173), hitting percentage (.261 - .224), kills per set (13.8), assists (182-162), service aces (23-11), digs (164-139), and blocks (35-24) over this weekend's three matches.
- With the exception of SDSU's first set of the season against CSU Bakersfield, SDSU either won the set or lost the set by four points or less in each of the final 13 games of the weekend.
ALL-TOURNAMENT
Most Valuable Player: Shayla Hoeft, Portland
All-Tournament Team
Sarah Colla, Campbell
Jessica Stocking, Campbell
Brooke Boiseau, CSU Bakersfield
Krista Hernandez, CSU Bakersfield
Cali Thompson, Portland
Shayla Hoeft, Portland
Shae Harris, Seattle U
Eve Kerschenbaum, Seattle U
Deja Harris, San Diego State
Ashlynn Dunbar, San Diego State
UP NEXT
San Diego State heads to Tucson, Ariz. for the Cactus Classic hosted by Arizona. SDSU begins action against Pacific at 12:30 p.m. MT on Friday