Women’s volleyball hosted the San Diego State Invitational this past weekend with participants, including the University of Oregon (6-0), Pepperdine University and UC Santa Barbara.
SDSU (1-5) played against the Pepperdine Waves (1-4) on Friday, Sept. 1, dropping in straight sets 3-0. The Aztecs battled through each set with intense moments, but couldn’t finish strong. The scores for each set were 25-17, 28-26 and 25-21.
“I think we did really well with communicating on the court and between plays,” said outside hitter Madison Corf. “What we can work on is starting off stronger than we usually do. I think we started out really, really slow in all three sets.”
Throughout the game SDSU’s defense was quite unsteady, which Pepperdine’s offense took advantage of to gain points quickly.
The Aztecs battled closely in the second set, working to a 26-26 score. An unfortunate attack error gave Pepperdine the lead, then on the following play, Waves Laine Briggs served an ace to win the second set. It was the Aztecs’ closest set of the evening.
“In the first match of this tournament, we were more consistent, so they know that they didn’t come out ready to play and that’s the coach’s responsibility,” head coach Brent Hillard said.
Corf had a standout night individually for the Scarlet and Black, with 12 kills, one block, four service aces and an assist.
“(Without) my teammates, just the support from everybody, I couldn’t have done it without passing or my setters and I just really appreciate them,” Corf said.
On Saturday, SDSU closed out the Invitational with a 3-0 loss against the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (5-1).
The first two sets against UCSB were close, ending 25-22 and 25-21. The visitors ran away in the third set to seal the win 25-16.
“It always happens when you try for a spark and see if somebody can come off the bench like Cara Braun did at the end. You get two aces, a couple of swings and that’s what you’re looking for,” Hillard said. “I just used (Braun) a little too late.”
Despite the loss, Hillard was impressed with how well the team played to bounce back after the loss to Pepperdine.
“I thought it was 1,000 times better… we did a lot of really good things,” Hillard said. “We may miss four or five serves and take us out of a set or we may get aces four or five times, but none of that happened today. I’m always okay if we lose a match because the team beats us, but it’s just always frustrating when you beat yourself.”
Senior middle blocker Julia Haynie had four kills, two blocks and a dig against the Gauchos. Haynie took the matches at the Invitational as learning experiences.
“I think it’s important to play big teams like this and understand that we are making the same plays as them, we can hang with these teams,” Haynie said. “It’s great learning for everyone on the team.”
The majority of the women’s volleyball team are freshmen or sophomores, with only three seniors.
“We have young girls that are working on their confidence coming into college and coming into this level, this conference and playing against big power teams,” Haynie said. “It’s important to focus on making important plays and staying within yourself and staying for your team and not focusing on the external factors.”
The Scarlet and Black will be in La Jolla next weekend for the UC San Diego Invitational beginning on Sept. 7 against the host Tritons at 6 p.m. After that, the Aztecs will head over to Spokane, Washington as they will play in the Gonzaga Tournament, starting Sept. 15.
Mountain West Conference play begins in Las Vegas against UNLV on Sept. 19. SDSU’s next home match will be against San José State at Aztec Court at Peterson Gym on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 1 p.m.
