The Aztecs lose the first game of conference play, change things up, and win the second game

SDSU Women’s Volleyball changed their lineup, which turned out well.

by Abigail Segoviano, Staff Writer • September 29, 2022

Sports

Junior Heipua Tautua’a sends a spike over the net against Cal-Berkeley on Aug. 26.

San Diego State volleyball (3-10) opened Mountain West play this past weekend with two games that saw different outcomes. They lost the first game of conference play to San Jose State but ended up making key changes that led to a win in their second game against the University of Nevada, Reno.

Throughout the week they hosted San Jose State (8-4) who they lost to 1-3 on Sept. 22, and they also hosted Nevada (7-6) where the Aztecs won 3-1 on Sept. 24.

Junior Heipua Tautua’a had a total of 10 kills throughout both games. Tautua’a said that playing against San Jose State was more of a practice for the start of the season.

“This game was more of a warm-up to see where we are at, even though we had a preseason, we got a look at how our conference is going to be now and I feel like that taught us a lesson and we can learn from that and input it to the game against Nevada,” Tautua’a said.

With these two games indicating only the beginning of conference play, head coach Brent Hillard feels confident in the team.

“I feel good about the team. We regained our health and all the matches have been close and I believe that all games will be close,” Hillard said. “We are ready as we are going to be.”

In the win against Nevada, coach Hillard made one of the biggest moves of the early season. He decided to change the lineup.

“There are two factors on why I changed the lineup, one we have been considering this lineup and two Heipua was not able to jump today, she was down and she played a little defense for us,” Hillard said.

The lineup change proved to be a good adjustment as the Aztecs were able to win and end their tenth-game losing streak.

Freshman Madison Corf had a total of 32 kills throughout both games. Corf has said that with the conference starting she feels good about it and is glad the losing streak was over.

“It’s going to be a good conference. I know we started off on a rough foot. We got back to the gym and as a team, we worked our butts off and I think we are going to do pretty good,” Corf said. “It feels so good, so much pressure lifted off of us and we really needed this win under our belts.”

Now, the Aztecs begin a two-week road trip, playing a total of four consecutive schools away from home. The trip started with a matchup against Fresno State on Sept. 27 where the Aztecs swept Fresno State 3-0, building on the momentum they created this past week.

Next, they head to Las Vegas to take on UNLV on Oct. 1 before finishing the road trip with games at Utah State on Oct. 6 and Boise State on Oct. 8.

About the Contributor

Abigail Segoviano, '24-25 Mundo Azteca Editor

Originally from Richmond, California, Abigail Segoviano is a second-year student, majoring in Journalism with a minor in Spanish. This is Abigail’s second year at the Daily Aztec where she got the opportunity to expand her writing skills as a journalist. As a staff writer last year she had the opportunity to mainly cover the entire season of women’s volleyball and also covered a couple of games for women’s basketball. This year her main focus is to branch out and write for different sports. Additionally to get involved in other sections such as Multimedia and Mundo Azteca. Abigail is the Vice President of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (SDSU Chapter). Abigail received an award from The Daily Aztec: “Consistent Contributor.” In her free time, she enjoys reading, watching sports, listening to music, and going on adventures with friends.