SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State volleyball team fell in straight sets (25-27, 17-25, 21-25) against Fresno State in its Mountain West opener at Peterson Gym on Friday night.
The Aztecs started their night off on a positive note, jumping out to an 18-12 lead with a balanced offensive effort and a strong defensive performance. The Bulldogs were able to battle their way back into the match despite facing a late six-point deficit and rallied for an 11-5 run to tie the game at 23-23 after an SDSU attack error. Despite Ashlynn Dunbar's fourth kill of the first set creating a match-point situation for the Aztecs at 25-24, the Bulldogs logged back-to-back blocks to end the set on a 3-0 run and jump out to a 1-0 lead after a 27-25 win.
The Aztecs saw strong offensive performances from Dunbar (four kills), Erin Gillcrist (four kills), Deja Harris (three kills) and Hannah Turnlund (three kills) in the first set, but were unable to carry that momentum over into the second set, with the Bulldogs holding SDSU to a .000 hitting percentage in the second set. After Fresno State jumped out to a 7-1 lead, the Aztecs were unable to get within four points of the Bulldogs and eventually dropped the set, 25-17.
Led by Tamia Reeves, who logged five kills on five swings in the third set, SDSU posted its best offensive set in the third, posting a .171 hitting percentage. With the set tied at 13-13 – the sixth tie of the set – Fresno State distanced itself from the Aztecs with a 3-0 run to gain a lead it held onto for the remainder of the game. In addition to Reeves, SDSU saw multi-kill performances by Dunbar, Gillcrist, and Harris in the third set.
Gillcrist contributed a strong individual performance, logging a team-high nine kills with just one error on 20 attempts for a .400 hitting percentage. Reeves finished her night at an efficient clip, logging seven kills with one error on eight swings. In her first action of the 2018 season, Gabi Peoples logged 28 assists with nine digs, while the defensive effort was led by Dunbar and Loren Teter who recorded 13 and 10 digs, respectively.
NOTE
Today's loss snapped an eight-match home winning streak against the Bulldogs, which dated back to Sept. 24, 1999.
UP NEXT
SDSU travels to Colorado Springs to take on Air Force for a Sunday match beginning at 1:00 p.m. MT.
Volleyball Falls to Fresno State
