Following the San Diego State women’s volleyball team’s sixth-consecutive loss, the Aztecs were after redemption when they played Air Force, who sit second to last in the Mountain West conference with the Aztecs one seed above them.
Behind freshman outside-hitter Madison Corf’s game-high 21 kills, the Aztecs (5-16, 3-7 MW) emerged victorious, 3-1 over the Air Force Falcons (9-13, 1-9 MW) in front of their home crowd at Peterson Gym on Saturday, Oct. 22.
For Saturday’s victory, the Aztecs had to fight through multiple back-and-forth sets with each up for grabs. In just the first two sets, the two teams combined for 29 ties and 11 lead changes.
The Aztecs’ previous match was a 3-1 loss against the University of New Mexico, marking their sixth consecutive loss since they fell 3-1 to UNLV on Oct. 1.
Corf was the Aztecs’ arrow against the Falcons. She led the way with 21 kills, more than half the amount of kills Air Force had as a team (41).
“It’s awesome to see freshmen light it up,” head coach Brent Hilliard said. “It’s a high risk, but the reward is great.”
The freshman had a terrific night yet still credited her teammates for her performance.
“I felt really good,” Corf said. “But couldn’t have done it without my team.”
Air Force struck with the first kill of the match, but the schools would trade kills until the score of the first set became 5-6. The Aztecs scored two kills in a row to make it 7-6. Air Force then one-upped the Aztecs, scoring three consecutive kills to take a 9-7 lead. The teams continued to battle back-and-forth with neither team taking a lead larger than three points until the last point. The Aztecs were up 24-21 with a chance to take the first set and did exactly that behind a powerful serve by Corf.
The Aztecs continued their energy into the second set taking an early 5-1 lead highlighted by a diving save by freshman libero Ellie Geoghegan that led to a point. Yet four consecutive kills by the Falcons brought the score right back to 5-5. The balanced play continued until the teams eventually found themselves knotted at 27 each. An error off a serve gave Air Force the lead and the Aztecs then gave up the final point, giving Air Force the set to tie the match at 1-1.
Despite the heartbreaking end to the second set, the Aztecs continued to come out firing with a 14-7 lead to start the third set.
“We have been emphasizing that (getting an early lead),” head coach Brent Hilliard said. “Same thing when we were at New Mexico this week, we led in every single set pretty late.”
The Aztecs continued to dominate the set, eventually winning it 25-14.
Going into the fourth set, the match was in SDSU’s grasp. Another early lead set the tone, this time the Aztecs went up 7-0 to open the set.
The terrific play continued and the Aztecs took their largest lead of the match in the fourth set, an 11-point lead at 22-11. A few points later the Aztecs won their match following a serving error by Air Force.
Next, the Aztecs will meet Colorado State in Fort Collins, Colorado on Oct. 27. The Aztecs have eight games to go in their season and currently sit third to last in the Mountain West conference.
