Box Score

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Junior San Diego, California native Cassie Knutson racked up 16 kills to help lead the Colonels to a four set win over San Diego State in the first day of the Aztec Invitational.
 
After dropping the third set, 25-15, the Colonels (1-0, 0-0 OVC) came thundering back with a chip on their shoulder in the fourth and final set.
 
EKU came out swinging, hitting .348 in the set. The Aztecs pulled within three, 18-15, after much back-and-forth during the fourth set. Senior Nikki Drost then came up with a commanding kill followed by a service ace to extend the EKU lead to five and spark a 5-0 Colonel run, 23-15. Knutson came up with a kill of her own to bring the Colonels one point within finishing the match, 24-16. EKU only trailed one time during the set.
 
"I think the things we displayed tonight are going to be things that are going to be really important in our future," Head Coach Lori Duncan stated. "That is playing as a team, playing with consistency, communicating, sacrificing for the group and the most important and impressive is that they were very resilient. They came out and threw the first punch, it made a statement. We have been notorious for slow starts, tonight we came out."
 
The first and second sets were both back-and-forth battles. The Aztecs found themselves in front 11-10 before catching a plague of errors. They committed a total of six throughout the set allowing the Colonels to pull ahead 23-20. A kill from Knutson followed by a service ace from Ciera Koons helped EKU claim the set.
 
In the second set both teams found themselves going point-for-point yet again. SDSU had the 9-8 advantage before Drost came up with a kill to begin an 8-4 run for the Colonels that ended in a kill from Celina Sanks, forcing the Aztecs to take a timeout, 16-11. EKU did not trail the remainder of the set.
 
As a team the Colonels hit .256 on the evening, complimented by a .433 percentage in the second set alone.
 
"This is a very important stat, we haven't hit that in a long time," Duncan explained. "Anything over .250 is impressive, but when we are hitting .300 or .400 against a team that was picked third in the Mountain West this is impressive."
 
Sanks and Drost tallied 11 kills each while Rachel Woody notched 36 assists. Koons came up with seven blocks.
 
Indigo Thompson, SDSU, led all players with 44 assists.
 
The Colonels play two tomorrow. First is California State University, Northridge at 12 p.m. followed by Portland State at 8 p.m.