Back-to-back victories have set a new tone for the San Diego State volleyball team.
Last week the team broke a four-game losing streak with a win against Fresno State on the road. Another win Thursday night at home against Utah State continued to fuel the Aztecs’ fresh momentum. The team is now seventh in the Mountain West with a 3-4 conference record.
SDSU has an impressive history against the Aggies. The teams met only once last year and SDSU came away with the win in three sets. The Aztecs are now 7-0 at home against Utah Stat and 10-4 overall.
The Aztecs won the first two sets on Thursday 25-17 each and the third, 25-23. As a team they reached their highest hitting percentage in a match this season at .354. Junior outside hitter Baylee Little led the team with 11 kills, while redshirt-freshman Deja Harris contributed eight kills. Junior Hailey Jones and sophomore Alexis Cage each had two service aces and sophomore Danielle Bolden just missed her first career double-double, finishing with eight kills and nine digs.
The road has been rough for the Aztecs so far, but they have gained momentum from these back-to-back victories.
“We’re gaining our confidence back, so it’s awesome,” Bolden said. “We don’t let the losses affect us, we’re just trying to be calm and have fun. That’s when we play our best.”
SDSU had a pulsating energy on the court throughout the match against the Aggies. Even with some errors, the Aztecs were able to bounce right back and score consistently. With key performances from Bolden, Jones and Little, the team established a strong and relentless presence throughout the night.
“We didn’t start the season off so great,” Jones said. “I think this confidence and momentum will really help pull us into a more successful season to close it out.”
So far this season, the Aztecs have had trouble with errors and the subsequent disruption they cause to the flow of the game. However, head coach Deitre Collins-Parker feels the team has improved on not letting the errors have a carry-over effect.
“I think before, those errors kinda took us down,” she said. “Now when we had an error we bounced back and kind of fixed things right away. So we looked a lot cleaner. Everybody has errors and it’s what those errors do to you, and today those errors didn’t kill us because we were able to come back and play well.”
SDSU will hope this momentum carries over into its match Saturday against Boise State, currently No. 2 in the MW.
