San Diego State volleyball took on the No. 17 University of San Diego in a crosstown matchup on Tuesday, Sept. 12. The Aztecs fell in three sets (23-25, 18-25, 16-25) to the Toreros, falling to 4-6 on the season.
It was a match senior outside hitter Alexis Cage had been looking forward to, as the proximity in schools means a little extra motivation to win.
“We play with and against those girls all summer in open gyms and in spring season as well,”Cage said. “It’s definitely a game that I look forward to every year.”
USD controlled the game, holding the advantage in most statistical categories, including a .305 to .121 upper hand on hitting percentage.
The Scarlet and Black had their best performance in the first set, opening up an early five-point lead. The lead vanished quickly, however, as SDSU succumbed to a 14-6 Torero run.
In the second set the Aztecs battled until the midpoint, when USD went on an eight to two run to win the set.
“I think for all teams long runs have a big impact because it gives the other team the momentum. Especially when you’re playing solid teams like USD you can’t allow a team like that to get too many strings of points on you,” Cage said.
The Aztecs struggled to produce in the third set, only hitting at five percent. Despite the many hitting errors and lack of kills, the Aztecs stayed competitive with USD, at one point going up 11-9, but were unable to hold on after another Toreros’ run.
“San Diego served some really tough balls to our serve receive passers that got our entire offensive game out of system, which made it really easy for our opponents to camp out on our outside hitters,” junior middle blocker Deja Harris said.
The Aztecs will look to rebound from their loss at the Denver Invitational this weekend, Sept. 15 and 16, as they face UC Riverside, Gonzaga University and University of Denver.
Harris said SDSU is focused heading into the Invitational.
“The focus going into this last preseason tournament, is going back to what we do best,” Harris said. “Focusing on our strengths and improving on our weaknesses.”
