SAN DIEGO – In a match where four of five sets were decided by two points and senior Deja Harris set a new career-high with 20 kills, the San Diego State volleyball team fell to UTEP, 26-24, 23-25, 26-28, 25-19, 13-15 at Peterson Gym on Saturday morning. The Aztecs are now 1-10 on the season, while the Miners improve to 3-8.
The Aztecs topped UTEP in hitting percentage (.252 - .125), total kills (66-59), assists (64-56), digs (57-54), blocks (20-7), and points (90-74), while having fewer attack errors (26-38). Harris led the Aztecs on both the offensive and defensive ends of the ball, recording 20 kills with nine blocks and .531 hitting percentage to lead all players in both kills and hitting percentage. Harris' defensive effort was complimented by Lexie Hamrick, who led all players in the match with her season-high 11 blocks.
Neither squad had a lead larger than four in the first set, and with the Aztecs trailing 12-8, SDSU went on a 6-0 run to take a 14-12 lead. The Aztecs and Miners continued to go back-and-forth and with the match tied at 24-24, Harris and Ashlynn Dunbar teamed up to record SDSU's game-clinching kills to win the set, 26-24. The Aztecs logged a .333 hitting percentage in the first set, led by Hannah Turnlund who recorded six kills on 10 swings.
The close-knit trend continued in the second and third set, with UTEP taking a 2-1 lead with a pair of wins by the minimum margin, despite holding the Miners to a .038 hitting percentage over that duration. With the second set sitting at 22-22 – the game's seventh tie – the Miners closed the door with a Cheyenne Jones kill just after Turnlund logged a kill of her own to cut the deficit to one.
Both Hamrick and Harris recorded impressive offensive showings in the third set, posting five kills and four kills, respectively. The Aztecs outhit the Miners, .219- .051 in the third set largely in thanks to six digs by Lauren Lee, but ultimately succumbed after a 9-4 run erased SDSU's 21-16 late-set lead and tied the match at 25-25. UTEP's Jones logged another kill to make it 26-26, and the Miners ultimately claimed the 2-1 lead after an SDSU ball handling error capped the set at 28-26.
The most one-sided set of the match came in the fourth set, with SDSU posting a .387 hitting percentage against UTEP's .219. Harris continued her late-match offensive dominance in the fourth, posting five kills, while Victoria O'Sullivan posted five kills of her own in the game just after seeing her first action of the match.
SDSU claimed an early 4-3 lead after one of Harris' scores and never relinquished that lead after tying up the match at 2-2 with a 25-19 fourth-set win.
Again, the Aztecs statistically outperformed the Miners, logging a .316 hitting percentage in the fifth set against UTEP's .130. Despite SDSU falling behind 11-7 in the fifth, a duo of late-match kills by Erin Gillcrist cut UTEP's lead to 13-11. Harris posted her 19th and 20th kills of the morning to bring the score to a narrow 14-13 margin, but once again for the Miners, Jones was able to convert and recorded her 17th kill of the match to claim the set and match.
The Aztecs were hindered by eight service errors and eight UTEP service aces.
Harris' kill output led all players in the match, while Turnlund and Hamrick recorded 14 and 11 kills, respectively. Delaney Taylor racked up 50 assists on the morning, while Lee set a new career-high with 20 digs.
NOTES
- Deja Harris' .531 hitting percentage is the best single-match mark by an Aztec this season.
- SDSU's all-time record against UTEP falls to 12-2.
- Today's match against UTEP is the second occasion this season SDSU has recorded a 20+ block performance (also 20 against Seattle U on Aug. 25)
UP NEXT
SDSU faces Louisiana at home to conclude the SDSU/USD Challenge at 3:00 p.m.
VB Drops Narrow Five-Set Decision to UTEP
