San Diego State’s women’s volleyball team left Thursday’s contest heartbroken after a 3-2 loss against the first-place Air Force Falcons, with set scores of 25-23, 17-25, 20-25, 25-20 and 15-13.
Outside hitter Taylor Underwood had a career-high 31 kills, generating 33 points for the Aztecs (7-9, 2-3 Mountain West Conference). This was the fourth consecutive match that Underwood recorded 10 or more kills and her third with two service aces. The last time an SDSU player recorded more than 30 kills was in 1997.
“I feel really great, but I could not have done it without my team,” Underwood said. “I can’t do it without a great pass or set, so a lot of it goes to them.”
Air Force (12-4, 4-1) dominated the first half of the first set, building a 17-12 lead. After regrouping during a timeout, the Aztecs battled their way back to tie 19-19. The Aztecs tied the set three more times, but could not grab the lead as the Falcons secured the set 25-23.
“We did not come out ready to play in the first game,” said head coach Brent Hillard. “I thought that first set was the one that caught up to us.”
The Aztecs shifted the momentum on their side during the second and third sets. In the second, Underwood generated 11 kills on 12 attacks and closed the set with a kill. In the third set, she added seven more kills as the Aztecs maintained the lead.
Victory was in the hands of the Aztecs, establishing an early 11-5 lead in the fourth set. However, the Falcons battled back to tie at 17-17 and then outscored SDSU 8-3 the rest of the way to force a fifth set.
The Aztecs took an 8-6 lead on an Underwood kill, then a service ace in the fifth set. Three attack errors by the Aztecs gave Air Force the advantage, and an Ella Tschuor kill ended the set and game 15-13 for the visitors.
SDSU dominated the game offensively, generating 77 kills compared to the Falcons’ 61. Additionally, the Aztecs led the game in points, digs, assists and aces. Errors became the ultimate factor, as the Aztecs had 28 errors compared to 17 by Air Force.
Despite the loss, the team had optimism about their overall performance and effort in the match. “We were able to fight really hard,” Underwood said. “If we can take our performance from today and move on, we can come back stronger on Saturday.”
The loss came after a 3-1 victory at Wyoming on Sept. 30 with set scores of 17-25, 27-25, 25-21 and 25-16.
After dropping the first set the Aztecs led the majority of the second set, totaling 18 kills. Underwood clutched six kills in the set, including delivering a kill to seal the set point.
SDSU took advantage of Wyoming’s attack errors during the third set. Outside hitter Madison Corf delivered back-to-back blocks to help increase the Aztecs’ lead to 24-19 as the Scarlet and Black eventually won the third set.
After two neck-and-neck sets, the Aztecs controlled the fourth set with 11 kills and only six errors — the lowest out of the sets for SDSU. Wyoming had 10 errors in the set — the most of all four sets.
Late in the fourth set, outside hitter Heipua Tautua’a delivered back-to-back-to-back kills, with setter Fatimah Hall assisting on two, which increased the Aztecs’ lead to 23-13. After Wyoming went on a three-point run, two Cowgirl attack errors cemented the win for SDSU.
Underwood ended the Wyoming match with 15 kills, while Tautua’a and middle blocker Julia Haynie both had 10 kills a piece to power the SDSU offense.
The Aztecs complete their two-match homestand facing New Mexico (11-5, 3-2) on Oct. 7 at 1 p.m. before traveling to Fresno to face Fresno State (8-8, 2-3) on Oct. 12 at 6 p.m.
