SAN DIEGO (Daily Aztec) - San Diego State women’s volleyball finished off the Aztec Invitational with a four-set loss to University of Portland on Saturday night at Peterson Gym.
The Aztecs (25-27, 22-25, 25-21, 22-25) loss to the Pilots completed a three game in two day stretch to open the season which included a loss to CS Bakersfield on Aug. 24 and a victory over Seattle University earlier in the day.
Junior outside hitter Ashlynn Dunbar led the Aztecs with a career-high 22 kills, but the team could not overcome falling behind two sets to a Portland team which won all three of its games during the invitational.
“Tonight was tough, it was a tough loss because this whole weekend we were pushing and we were improving and it’s hard,” Dunbar said.
SDSU (1-2) had a chance to take an early lead in the match, but failed to capitalize on advantages of both 24-22 and 25-24 in the first set.
The Aztecs were finally able to break through in the third set, handing Portland (3-0) its first set loss of the season.
“Getting swept wasn’t an option for us, it’s never an option for us,” Dunbar said. “We knew what we had to change, we came out and we had a lot of energy and a lot of heart and we pushed through it.”
