San Diego State volleyball lost its eighth consecutive game on Friday night, falling in four sets against Oregon State University at Peterson Gym.
The Aztecs (1-9) narrowly won the first set 25-23, but dropped the next three 13-25, 21-25 and 17-25.
SDSU head coach Deitre Collins-Parker said the team deviated from what they did in the first set, and that frustration kicked in.
“We stopped doing what was working,” Collins-Parker said. “Starting off the season we have, it’s frustrating for everybody, and now, frustration is kind of getting the best of us.”
SDSU was down 0-4 to begin the first set, and trailed until the very end, before making a run once the Beavers (8-2) reached 23 points.
Collins-Parker said that the frustration during the losing sets resulted in errors that caused SDSU to beat themselves.
“When you get frustrated… you start playing hesitant and that’s when errors happen,” Collins-Parker said. “(Oregon State) played well enough, but that’s all. I don’t want to take anything away from them, I don’t think we gave them a chance to beat us because we beat ourselves.
Aztecs senior middle blocker Deja Harris led the Aztecs with 11 kills, while junior outside hitter Ashlynn Dunbar and junior outside hitter Hannah Turnlund added 10 kills each.
Harris said there were positives to take away from the Aztecs victorious first set.
“We were down and we were able to stay confident,” Harris said. “We were able to slow down the game. We were able to (pass). It starts with a pass, period.”
Oregon State junior outside hitter Amy Underdown led all players with 18 kills.
The 6-foot-1-inch junior from Temecula, Calif. was a factor for the Beavers and a problem for the Aztecs.
“(Oregon State’s) very scrappy and they have a big (blocker),” SDSU junior setter Delaney Taylor said. “They’re very good on defense. They have a good libero, very good defenders.”
Taylor transferred to SDSU this season after playing last season at Oregon State.
She was going up against familiar faces and a program she knew what styles and gameplans they like to implement.
“I knew their entire game plan because I have friends on the team,” Taylor said. “They were mostly focused on (Harris) and our outsides, so setting people that they didn’t expect us to go to helped.”
Despite being in the midst of an eight-game losing streak, Collins-Parker said there are positives the Aztecs can build upon moving forward.
“We finally got (Harris) going,” Collins-Parker said. “I thought we blocked pretty well today. We did a lot of good things blocking-wise that we hadn’t been doing so I thought our passing kind of smoothed out into that good rhythm. Our hitters can hit.”
The Aztecs return to action Saturday, when they take on UTEP at Peterson Gym.
