Air Force Academy
San Diego State
Falcons Fall to San Diego State
10/13/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 13, 2011
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The Air Force volleyball team dropped a three-set match to San Diego State in Mountain West action on Thursday, Oct. 13, in San Diego, Calif. The Falcons dropped the first two sets by matching 25-17 scores, before falling 25-15 in the third game.
San Diego State struck first to open the match, but sophomore Cami Richan evened it up with a kill on the next point. Air Force collected its next four scores from four different Falcons, as freshmen, Kristen Holt, Lizzy Carpenter, Victoria Foster and sophomore Claire Bieber all recorded kills. Another kill from Richan tied the set at eight. The Aztecs scored three of the next four points to go up 11-9, but Foster put down another strike to bring the score to 11-10. Sophomore Josalynn Wise recorded a service ace at the 13-12 mark and a kill from freshman Ayesha Hein kept Air Force within one at 14-13. San Diego State pulled ahead to a slight margin, but kills from Holt, Richan and Foster helped the Falcons pull within one again at the 18-17 mark. However, the Aztecs used a 7-0 run to close out the set with a 25-17 win.
Richan scored first in the second set, but San Diego State pulled out to a quick 7-2 lead. A kill from freshman Hillary Keltner sparked an 8-2 run by Air Force, as the Falcons took the 10-9 lead. During the run, Foster recorded a kill and teamed up with Hein for a block. Hein also shared a block with Bieber, while Richan added another score. The Aztecs used a 10-2 run to go up 19-12, before an out-serve snapped their run. Air Force pulled within four (21-17) behind kills from Richan, Foster and Holt, but SDSU tallied the final four points for another 25-17 victory.
The third set saw San Diego State jump out to a fast 7-0 advantage, before Richan put down a kill to stop the home team's early run. Richan added another point with a service ace, while Foster put down another strike. SDSU scored the next three points (11-3), before Air Force rattled off six of the next nine points to bring the score to 14-9. Holt and Hein tallied three scores during the run, while Air Force earned blocks from the combinations of Foster/Hein and Holt/Bieber. Foster added another kill, while a solo stop from Hein brought the Falcons within six (19-13). Despite another pair of kills from Hein, the Aztecs scored six of the next eight points to close out the game with 25-15 score.
Richan and Foster led the Falcons with seven kills apiece, while Hein and Holt added kill totals of five and four, respectively. Connecting on five of 13 attempts, while committing no errors, Hein led the Falcons with a .385 hitting percentage. Keltner accounted for 14 assists, while Wise added 11. Junior Maiya Perich collected a match-high 16 digs, while Hein tied for the match lead with four blocks (one solo, three assisted).
Air Force closes out the first half of the conference season on Saturday, Oct. 15, when it travels to Las Vegas, Nev., to take on UNLV at 1 p.m. (PST).
