San Diego State volleyball fell short in five sets against University of Texas at El Paso on Saturday morning at Peterson Gym.
The Aztecs (1-10) won the first set, but fell 26-24, 23-25, 26-28, 25-19, 13-15 to the Miners for their ninth straight loss.
Despite senior middle blocker Deja Harris setting a new career-high with 20 kills, SDSU was unable to overcome its losing streak.
Head coach Deitre Collins-Parker said it is frustrating watching a team full of potential not have things fall their way.
“I don’t think there is anything that could be more frustrating,” Collins-Parked said. “It’d be different if we didn’t have the ability, but it’s the most frustrating thing for them and me.”
The momentum was with the Miners after winning the second and third sets, but SDSU kept fighting and managed to tie up the game and force a fifth set.
Collins-Parker said she had high hopes for her team going into the fifth set.
“We really felt confident coming into set five,” she said. “We talked about what UTEP was going to do. They kind of took advantage of some things that we couldn’t do anything about at that point, which was smart on their part.”
Aztecs junior outside hitter Hannah Turnlund said that she tries to see the positive in the rough start to the season.
“It can be frustrating at times, but I think that’s really motivating us going into the season,” she said. “We know that we’re behind, but I think it’s also a good thing because the teams in conference have no idea what we’re capable of.”
Turnlund said it was nice to see her team battle to the end.
“It was good to see the heart that we had to make it (to the fifth set) because I know with prior games, we kind of just let ourselves lose,” she said. “It was good to see us push to the fifth game and get there and fight.”
The Aztecs next chance to end their losing streak comes this evening against University of Louisiana at Lafayette at Peterson Gym.
