Andrew Huse / Staff Photographer

A rivalry is one of the most renowned traditions in sports.

Two teams, fueled by more than wins and losses, battle tightly and frequently.

What if the teams face each other almost every year, but the results have been more than lopsided?

In that case, you’d have the San Diego State and Cal State Fullerton volleyball teams.

Following SDSU’s 3-2 victory Tuesday night at Peterson Gym, the Aztecs now hold a staggering 41-3 advantage over the Titans.

That doesn’t seem like much of a rivalry, but that record doesn’t hold the entire truth.

Fullerton had won two of the last three against SDSU, including a 3-1 win last year. And Tuesday’s contest proved just how evenly matched the two squads are.

After narrowly losing the first match, the Aztecs rebounded with two close victories of their own, giving them a 2-1 lead going into the fourth game.

SDSU, however, was not able to close out the match. Instead, that frame resulted in the worse single-game loss for the Aztecs all year, losing 30-15 in disheartening fashion.

With most coaches, this would be the time to get in your players’ faces and smack some sense into them, or at least give a dramatic and inspiring speech. But that’s not how head coach Mark Warner operates.

“We let them come together on their own and work it out between themselves,” Warner said. “Our job as coaches is to give them the information they need and put them in a position to be successful. When it comes down to it, they’re the ones on the court, not us.”

Warner’s philosophy worked out. SDSU came out as a new team in the fifth frame, winning the game and the match 3-2 (26-30, 30-27, 30-25, 15-30, 15-12).

“We just knew coming out of the fourth set that we had to come together and get better in the fifth (set),” senior libero Aime Cordeiro said. “The coaches put a lot of responsibility on us and let us handle things on our own.”

Cordeiro had no problem handling the Titan’s attack, following up her record-setting 46 digs in the Aztecs’ last game with an exceptional 44.

Fullerton did win the kills battle 74 to 65, but struggled on the defensive side. The Titans recorded 58 digs to SDSU’s 74.

With the win, the Aztecs improve to 8-2 and extend their win-streak to five matches, both team bests since 2001.

SDSU will look to extend that streak as it opens conference play against Utah tonight and against BYU on Saturday. Both matches start at 7 p.m. at Peterson Gym.?