SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State volleyball team saw its five-match winning streak come to a close on Saturday night, falling in four-sets against UNLV (17-25, 21-25, 25-17, 28-30). The Aztecs fall to 6-15 (4-4 Mountain West), while the Rebels improve to 14-6 (5-3 MW).
Hannah Turnlund led the Aztecs offensively, recording 16 kills on 33 swings to go along with a .364 hitting percentage. Loren Teter continued her recent run of leading the SDSU defense, recording a match-high 21 digs. Coming off the bench, Gabi Peoples helped spark the offense in the later sets and ended her night with 32 assists.
SDSU suffered from a slow start offensively, logging hitting percentages of just .133 and .000 in the first and second sets, respectively. The Aztecs, however, quickly came to life on the offensive side of the ball, posting a .517 hitting percentage with zero errors en route to a 25-17 third-set win.
Ashlynn Dunbar's second service ace of the match helped build SDSU's third-set lead to 10-4, but a rally by the Rebels eventually cut the Aztec lead to just 11-9. The Aztecs then relied on Turnlund and Erin Gillcrist through the middle portion of the set to eventually build a comfortable 17-12 lead. The Aztecs eventually closed the set on a 4-1 run, with Dunbar, Turnlund, and Tamia Reeves all recording late-set kills.
The Aztecs erased a seven-point deficit in the fourth set, as a 13-6 hole for SDSU eventually turned into a 21-21 tie largely in thanks to a trio of kills by Dunbar, and two kills each from Gillcrist and Turnlund. The Aztecs took their first lead of the set after a UNLV attack error brought the score to 23-22, but the Aztecs were never able to collect the needed two-point margin despite go-ahead kills by Dunbar, Deja Harris, and Turnlund. With the set tied at 28-28 after Turnlund's 16th kill of the night, UNLV took the match after a SDSU service error and attack error gave UNLV the 30-28 win.
SDSU was outhit by UNLV by the slimmest of margins, with the Aztecs recording a .205 success rate in comparison to UNLV's .206 hitting percentage. The Aztecs out-blocked the Rebels, 11.5 – 8.
NOTES
- San Diego State falls to 5-2 in its last seven home matches against UNLV.
- The loss snaps SDSU's five-match winning streak – tied for the program's longest since the 2012 season.
- The Aztecs are 29-19 in their last 48 home matches.
UP NEXT
SDSU begins a four-match roadtrip next weekend, facing San Jose State on Thursday, Oct. 18 before concluding the week at Nevada on Saturday, Oct. 20.
VB Winning Streak Snapped in Four-Setter Against UNLV
