VOLLEYBALL: Aztecs avoid season sweep by beating UNLV at home

In a two-game season series between two teams, the second matchup always carries some added importance with a potential sweep at stake.

On Friday, the San Diego State volleyball team (8-13, 5-6 in Mountain West Conference play) faced off against conference rival UNLV (13-11, 6-5) for the second time this season at Peterson Gym.

In the first matchup between the two MWC teams, the Rebels defeated SDSU 3-1. On Friday, the season sweep seemed to be coming.

“We got off to a slow start,” head coach Mark Warner said. “But, like I’ve said before, nothing seems to faze this team.”

The Aztecs may have not been fazed, but questions were raised and the resilience of the team would be put to the test.

“At the end of the first set, I was thinking about a lot of things,” Warner said. “I was thinking to myself that we were just not being us. Luckily, this team is tenacious and was able to rebound quickly.”

The pressure on the intimidating Rebels defense resulted in three straight victorious sets for SDSU. The Aztecs got a boost from a reinforcement of ideology from their future head coach.

“When they put that pressure on in set one, we tried doing things that we shouldn’t have been doing,” Warner said. “(Associate head coach) John Ross told the team to get back to what we do best and to not try and be something we’re not. The team bought into it and we started to put the pressure on (UNLV).”

Ross’ post-set statements seemed to work for SDSU. Soon thereafter, the Aztecs were taking set after set, winning the match with scores of 15-25, 25-23, 25-12 and 25-22.

“We hit some balls against them that were at a little bit sharper angles than we usually hit,” Warner said. “I think that got UNLV in trouble, and according to the stats we actually out-dug them. So, obviously they didn’t play quite as well as they probably had hoped.”

With just five MWC games to go, SDSU hopes to use the win as a springboard for the home stretch.

“They’re a good team and their defense is really good,” Warner said. “But, I think that we’ve just gotten better. We’re a different team and I think that showed.”

NEWS AND NOTES
•Freshman setter Lauren Van Orden had a personal best .632 hitting percentage. She also reached double-digits in assists and kills, helping her achieve her 10th double-double of the season.

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