 "Photo: Daniel Sakow, Staff Photographer")
With the ball bearing down on her, Air Force senior middle blocker Kristin Hamlett had two choices.
She could protect her face and save herself the bruise, or she could close her eyes and hope the ball deflected off her body, leaving one of her teammates with a chance to make a play.
Hamlett chose to save herself bodily harm, deflecting the ball toward the gym floor and yielding a point to the San Diego State volleyball team. The ferocious spike from the powerful right arm of SDSU senior middle blocker Lindsey Noll and Hamlett's reaction to it was a microcosm of a weekend in which the Aztecs dominated.
The SDSU offense and defense both clicked, and the team swept through both the Falcons on Saturday and New Mexico on Friday without losing a single game and controlling both matches from the start.
The play involving Hamlett perfectly illustrated the game plan for the Aztecs against Air Force.
SDSU kept pounding and pounding the ball right at the Falcons until it couldn't take any more.
"Tonight we were just too good for them," Aztec head coach Mark Warner said. "It was a flawless victory."
SDSU (14-9 overall, 6-4 in Mountain West Conference play) came into the game heavily favored against a team without a win in conference play and rolled over Air Force (4-23 overall, 0-12 MWC). The Aztecs hit a .444 average and made only nine errors.
"It's good to have a winning weekend because we want to improve every time we play," junior right side hitter Audra Dent said.
While the score might indicate that SDSU won going away, Air Force actually hung around in the match for longer than expected. The Falcons, trailing by as many as six points in the second game, fought back to close the deficit to 20-18.
Although Air Force remained close in the first two games, whenever the Aztecs needed a point, the ball found an SDSU player ready for a kill opportunity.
Dent took the wind out of an Air Force comeback by taking a pass and spiking the ball into the vacant right corner, starting the Aztecs on a 4-0 run that secured their second-game win. The Falcons played with notably less intensity after that crucial point.
"Air Force is really hard-working and determined," Noll said. "But, we were able to finish really strong."
The entire weekend, the Aztecs were at their best in the crucial minutes, especially against New Mexico.
SDSU swept the Lobos (12-9 overall, 4-7 MWC) on Friday night thanks to a balanced offensive attack.
Dent, Noll, junior outside hitter Melanie Greene and freshman outside hitter Alicia Waller all tallied at least nine kills each. After narrowly escaping game one with a win, the Aztecs outscored the Lobos 60-30 in the final two games for the sweep.
Warner said the win against New Mexico is a reason for optimism.
"We made New Mexico look like a bad team - and they aren't," Warner said. "they beat Colorado State."
SDSU lost 3-0 to the Rams on Sept. 22, but Warner said he believes the Aztecs are in a better position to play with CSU than they were a month ago.
"We can beat Colorado State, but to do so we have to go into the game feeling like we can," Warner said. "It feels great to come out of this weekend with two wins, but we have to stay at the level we played at tonight when we play everyone else."
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