SAN DIEGO \u2013 With its postseason chances hanging in the balance, the San Diego State volleyball team came through with a huge 3-0 sweep over Fresno State (25-13, 25-21, 25-21) to highlight Senior Day festivities on Saturday inside Aztec Court at Peterson Gym.<\/p>\n
With the victory and coupled with San Jos\u00e9 State\u2019s 3-0 loss at UNLV, the Aztecs (14-15, 9-9 MW) secured the final spot in the 2025 Mountain West Championship, set for Nov. 26-29 in Las Vegas, Nevada.\u00a0 Sixth-seeded SDSU with face No. 3 seed Wyoming in the first round on Wednesday, Nov. 26 at 4 p.m. PT.<\/p>\n
Against the Bulldogs on Saturday, the Aztecs posted their second-highest hitting percentage of the year with a .359 clip, knocking down 55 kills against 13 errors in 117 attempts to complete a season sweep of Fresno State (7-22, 3-15 MW) for the first time since 2022.<\/p>\n
Conversely, SDSU limited the Bulldogs to a .176 efficiency, as the visitors mustered just 30 kills in 91 swings with 14 miscues. Despite trailing in team blocks (8.0 to 5.0) and service aces (5-4), the Aztecs maintained a 46-40 edge in digs to help snap a four-match losing streak.<\/p>\n
Individually, San Diego State was paced by Madison Corf<\/a> (.478), who blasted a match-high 14 kills, while Ella Schabort<\/a> reached double figures with 10 put-aways of her own. The Aztecs balanced attack also featured contributions from Mila Gehlen<\/a> (9 kills) and Natalie Hughes<\/a> (8 kills, 3 blocks, .471), while Talea Mitchell<\/a> floored seven of 10 shots without an error for a sparkling .700 hitting percentage.<\/p>\n Sarena Gonzalez<\/a> also aided the SDSU cause with a season-high 26 assists, splitting time at the setter position with Bella Jones<\/a>, who dished out 18 helpers of her own.<\/p>\n Anchoring the Aztec back row was Zara Stewart<\/a>, who tied for match-high honors with 13 digs, while Gonzalez and Keira Herron<\/a> totaled eight scoops apiece.<\/p>\n SDSU was never threatened in the opening set, racing to a 12-5 lead after a Hughes kill, which prompted a Fresno State timeout. The break did little to stem the Aztec onslaught, however, as the host school built an insurmountable 23-9 advantage following a Corf termination. Corf hit .800 for the frame, smashing eight kills in 10 swings without an error, while Hughes (.500) and Schabort (.429) launched three non-returnables apiece.<\/p>\n The second stanza was the most competitive of the day, as the teams combined for 11 ties and six lead changes. Trailing 18-16, the Scarlet and Black vaulted into front for good on three consecutive Campbell Hague<\/a> service aces, which ignited a timely 9-3 closing run. Schabort blasted three kills down the stretch and served up an ace, while Corf powered down a ball for the clinching point.<\/p>\n SDSU saved its best for last in the third frame, posting a stellar .514 efficiency after crushing 22 kills in 37 attempts with just three errors. Hague took center stage in the set, launching five put-aways on six swings without a miscue for a crisp .833 hitting percentage, while Gehlen and Mitchell totaled four kills apiece.<\/p>\n Save for a 1-1 tie, the Aztecs led throughout, crafting a seemingly safe 13-6 advantage following a Mitchell termination and consecutive Bulldog attack errors. However, Fresno State gradually trimmed the deficit, narrowing the gap to 24-21 on a Clara Garcia service ace, an Addison Haluska kill and an SDSU attack error.<\/p>\n However, the Aztecs quickly vanquished any Bulldog hopes of extending the match when Annelise Rising<\/a> floored a shot, securing the Scarlet and Black\u2019s much-needed victory.<\/p>\n Haluska and Jenna Legault tied for team-high honors with nine kills each, while Mya Sellers finished with five blocks, including a solo effort in the loss for Fresno State.<\/p>\n Prior to Saturday\u2019s clash, San Diego State conducted a special ceremony for its senior class, celebrating the accomplishments of Cara Braun<\/a>, Madison Corf<\/a>, Sarena Gonzalez<\/a>, Keira Herron<\/a>, Amber Keen<\/a> and Taylor Underwood<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Aztecs open the Mountain West Championship in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Nov. 26 vs. Wyoming at The Pavilion on the UNLV campus, starting at 4 p.m. PT. A link to tickets is available online at GoAztecs.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO \u2013 With its postseason chances hanging in the balance, the San Diego State volleyball team came…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[303,112,114,113,300,306,304,301,308,309,302,307,305],"class_list":["post-65908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-aztecs","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-san-diego-state","tag-san-diego-state-athletics","tag-san-diego-state-aztecs","tag-san-diego-state-university","tag-san-diego-state-university-athletics","tag-san-diego-state-university-aztecs","tag-sdsu","tag-sdsu-athletics","tag-sdsu-aztecs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}