SAN DIEGO, Calif.- Cal State Fullerton dropped their finale of the SDSU -USD 2014 Classic with a 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 23-25, 19-25) defeat at the hands of co-host San Diego State on Sunday afternoon at Aztec Court.
The Titans (4-3) finished the weekend 2-2 after scoring a pair of victories over Villanova and Brown on Saturday. Niki Withers had 12 kills against the Aztecs (3-3) while Holland Crenshaw added 10 to go along with a team-high five blocks.
Mackenzie Olsen dished out 36 assists and added four kills, five digs and three blocks (one solo). McKenna Painton and Rachel Brown paced the defense with 11 and 10 digs respectively. Megan Kurz tallied nine kills in the tournament finale.
The Titans jumped out in front after taking the first set with relative ease. They outhit the Aztecs .250 to .061 in the opening frame and took advantage of mistakes by the Aztecs offense, which committed nine attacking errors in the first game.
Fullerton scored eight of the first 10 points to start the match and would go on to take an 18-10 advantage in the opening frame. The Aztecs would cut the lead in half, 24-20, but by then it was too late as Olsen secured the set with a kill.
The next two sets were very close as the teams were tied a combined 23 times while exchanging the lead 10 times in the second and third sets, but the Aztecs managed to pull ahead each time. The Titans nursed an 18-17 edge in the second before the Aztecs closed the set out on an 8-3 run.
In the third, the Titans again held a one-point advantage thanks to a kill from Withers to make it 22-21, but the Aztecs scored three straight points to put the Titans on the brink. Kurz would make it 24-23 with a kill but Kaja Sanberg gave the Aztecs a 2-1 lead with one of her match-high 15 kills.
The Titans jumped out to a 7-5 lead in the fourth set but the Aztecs would score three straight to take the lead. After a service error tied the set, 8-8, the Aztecs put together a 6-0 run to secure the lead for good.
Notes: Sunday's match was the Titans first road match of the season after the previous three were designated as neutral matches… Withers finished the four-match tournament with 57 kills and a 3.80 kills per set average… Brown recorded her first double-digit digs performance of the season on Sunday… Olsen dished out 150 assists in 15 sets played over the weekend, averaging 10.00 assists per set… Crenshaw averaged 3.07 kills per set in four matches at the SDSU - USD 2014 Classic while boasting a .320 hitting percentage. She also averaged 1.00 blocks per set, recording 15 in four matches.