San Diego State volleyball found itself in yet another five-set match, however, the Fresno State Bulldogs narrowly escaped and handed the Aztecs a 3-2 loss (16-25, 25-17, 24-26, 25-22, 8-15) Saturday night at the Save Mart Center in Fresno.
It was SDSU’s sixth five-set match and second in a row following Monday’s comeback win against UNLV, however, the Aztecs were handed the loss and a season sweep at the hands of the Bulldogs.
Despite the loss, the Aztecs played well as senior outside hitter Victoria O’Sullivan smashed a match-high 23 kills as the team collected a season-high 10 service aces.
Even with the strong play from the Aztecs, the Bulldogs were too much as they gained a kill advantage of 60-58 and a team block advantage of 11 to 6. Fresno State also committed seven fewer attack errors (26-19) and outhit the Aztecs .281 to .216.
Aztec senior outside hitter Zoi Faki also made her presence known as she finished with her third double-double of the year as she collected 10 kills and 12 digs.
It was a back and forth match as the Bulldogs won sets one and three while the Aztecs won both sets two and four.
The Aztecs had a stunning 7-1 spurt late in the fourth set while down 21-18 to send the match to the fifth, but the Bulldogs pulled away with a 15-8 set five victory in which they recorded only one error and eight putaways with a .583 hitting percentage to win the match.
SDSU will look to rebound next Thursday in Colorado Springs as they take on Air Force at 5 p.m.
