San Diego, Calif.—Spartan seniors Giulia Gávio and Luiza Andrade finished their careers on a positive note as the San José State volleyball team needed five sets for a 3-2 win at San Diego State Saturday night in a Mountain West match. The Spartans ended the season on a four-match winning streak.
Gavio had the final two Spartan kills of the match to give SJSU the win. She ended the match with her only double-double of the season and 15th of her career with 11 kills and 10 digs. She ends her four years in a Spartan uniform with 845 kills, good for the 18th-highest total in San José State history.
Andrade recorded 21 digs in her final match and ends her four years with the second-highest career digs total at San José State with 1,653. As the MW finishes its 20th year of volleyball, Andrade finishes the season listed eighth on the conference's career digs list. For the 2018 season, Andrade recorded 498 digs, the fourth-highest total in school history.
Behind the serving line, Andrade added to her service ace total Saturday night with one in the win. She finishes the 2018 season with 49 service aces, tying Dawnis Wilson for the eight-most aces in a single season at SJSU. Andrade ends her career tied with the ninth-most aces at SJSU with 122 and should be among the top-10 servers in the 20-year history of the MW.
Five Spartans recorded double-digit kills in the win, led by Haylee Nelson with 13 kills. Thaliana Grajeda and Ryann Thomison each had 12 kills, followed by Gávio with 11 and Caitlin Bettenay with 14. Bettenay recorded her seventh double-double of the year with 14 digs in the match.
The tale of tape may have been the hitting numbers in winning versus losing sets. In the three sets the Spartans won, the team hit .383 (45-9-94), while in the losing sets, SJSU hit just .079 (24-18-76) including a -.028 in set four (8-9-36).
After falling 25-20 in the first set, the Spartans trailed 7-5 and used an 8-0 run to take a 13-7 lead and win the set 25-23. San José State trailed 5-3 to open the third set but used a 6-2 run to take a 9-7 lead. The two teams battled in the set and SDSU took a 24-23 lead. The Spartans fought of three Aztec set points to win the set 28-26.
After losing the fourth set 25-17, the Spartans had to go five sets with the Aztecs for the second time this season. San José State had a 13-7 lead before San Diego State scored four straight points and cut the lead to 13-11. Gávio got the Spartans to match point at 14-11 with her 10th kill of the night. The Aztecs then scored a point, and Gávio took two swings at the ball before it finally fell for her 11th kill of the night to give San Jose State the 15-12 set win and 3-2 match win.
San José State finishes the 2018 season with a 16-11 overall record and 11-7 MW mark, the most conference wins since joining the MW in 2013. The Spartans finished fourth in the MW standings, again the best since joining the MW and the highest finish since the team tied for fourth place in the WAC standings in 2006.
MW Match
San Diego, Calif.
San José State def. San Diego State – 3-2 (20-25, 25-23, 28-26, 17-25, 15-12).
Kills –SJSU – Haylee Nelson 13, Thaliana Grajeda 12, Ryann Thomison 12, Giulia Gávio 11, Caitlin Bettenay 10.
SDSU – Deja Harris 16, Hannah Turnland 15, Tamia Reeves 12, Erin Gillcrist 11.
Records – San José State 16-11, 11-7; San Diego State 10-21, 8-10.
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