SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State volleyball team opens its 2023 campaign on Tuesday when it plays host to North Florida in an exhibition match, starting at 6 p.m. on Aztec Court at Peterson Gym.
Despite an 11-20 overall record, the Scarlet and Black won seven of its last 11 matches in 2022, punctuated by a berth in the Mountain West tournament where the sixth-seeded Aztecs posted a 3-2 upset of No. 3 seed Colorado State in the first round before falling to second-seeded San José State in the semifinals by a 3-1 count.
Building on that late-season momentum, SDSU returns 10 letterwinners from last year, including the outside hitting combo of sophomore Madison Corf and senior Heipua Tautua'a.
Corf earned all-conference honorable mention during her freshman campaign in 2022 after averaging a team-best 2.61 kills across 109 sets and ranking second on the squad with 282 kills overall. The Kansas City, Missouri, product was also slotted third on the Aztecs with double-digit kills in 11 matches while occupying the fourth position with 172 digs (1.59/set).
Meanwhile, Tautua'a continued her versatile play last season, finishing second on the team in digs (244) while ranking third in kills (260), kills per set (2.36) and digs per set (2.22). Additionally, the Wai'anae, Hawai'i, native led SDSU with seven double-doubles (kills-digs) and was slotted fourth on the squad with 39.0 total blocks, including 13 solo stops.
The Aztecs also return a pair of middle blockers in super senior Julia Haynie and junior Elly Schraeder. Haynie ranked fifth in the Mountain West with a career-best .356 hitting percentage, while Schraeder occupied the sixth spot in the league with 1.09 blocks per set, finishing with a team-high 118 blocks overall.
With head coach Brent Hilliard beginning his fourth season at the helm, San Diego State will benefit from the arrival of six talented newcomers, including first-team AVCA High School All-American Natalie Hughes, along with Division I transfers Taylor Underwood and Bailey Darnell. Also featured in that group are former prep stars Fatimah Hall, Campbell Hague and Amber Keen.
Underwood garnered Big East all-freshman accolades in her lone season at DePaul last year after ranking third on the Blue Demons with 264 kills (2.47/set) while occupying the sixth spot with 36 blocks (0.34/set). The Norco, California, native also contributed 78 digs (0.73/set) and nine services aces (0.08/set). Additionally, she surpassed the double-digit kill plateau on 13 occasions, launching a career-high 18 put-aways (.351) at Seton Hall on Oct. 7, 2022.
Hughes, meanwhile, propelled McKinney (Texas) North High to its second straight Class 5A Region II quarterfinal playoff berth in 2022 after a finals appearance in 2020. During her senior campaign, she led the Bulldogs in kills (473), kills per set (4.4), hitting percentage (.316), total blocks (83), and blocks per set (0.8), according to MaxPreps, finishing her prep career with over 1,100 put-aways while setting an all-time school record with 353 total blocks.
Collectively, San Diego State was pegged for a fourth-place finish in the Mountain West preseason coaches poll, which was announced on Aug. 16. The Aztecs received 64 votes to tie New Mexico for that position while trailing defending MW tournament champion Utah State (92 pts, 5 first-place votes), 2022 regular-season standard bearer UNLV (92 pts, 3 first-place votes) and Colorado State (86 pts, 3 first-place votes) for the top three spots, respectively.
Tuesday's match will mark the inaugural meeting between SDSU and North Florida, which opens their season this weekend with three matches at UC Santa Barbara's home tournament.
In 2022, the Ospreys posted a 12-17 overall record but finished seventh in the 14-team Atlantic Sun race with a 9-7 mark before falling to Florida Gulf Coast in the first round of the conference tournament.
UNF returns the outside hitting tandem of Mahalia White (393 kills, 138 digs) and Kailey McKnight (226 kills, 267 digs) along with middle blockers Kierstyn McFall (105 blocks) and Maddie Boyd (103 blocks). Not to be outdone, three-time defending ASUN Defensive Player of the Year Rocio Moro (540 digs) is back in the fold after receiving AVCA All-Southeast Region honorable mention last season.
A native of Canoga Park, California, White was named the preseason ASUN Player of the year, while Moro was once again projected to earn another conference Defensive Player of the Year award. As a team, the Ospreys were picked fifth in the league's preseason coaches poll.
UNF is guided by sixth-year head coach Kristen Wright, who was a four-year starter at the University of San Diego during her playing career (2001-04), earning first-team All-West Region distinction and All-America honorable mention from the AVCA in 2004.
San Diego State opens its regular-season schedule this weekend in the Pacific Northwest, Aug. 25-27, at the Hotel Vance Rose City Showdown in Portland, Oregon, where the Scarlet and Black will battle Cal State Fullerton, Kansas State and host Portland State on successive days.
Aztecs Set for Home Exhibition vs. North Florida
