Layla Austin ended the first set with consecutive kills, and San Diego State never trailed in the third. The work between those points gave the Aztecs a 28-26, 25-23, 25-19 sweep of UC Davis on Thursday in the opening match of the Aggie Invitational.
The opener refused to settle. SDSU built a 14-9 lead behind an Annabelle Bentley solo block, then watched UC Davis answer with an 11-5 run and move ahead 20-19. The Aggies reached set point twice. At 25-24, an Isabella Umpierre attack went wide, Austin and Ally Chandler traded kills, and the score returned to 26-all.
Austin took the next two swings and finished both. She had nine kills in the set, hitting .533 with one error on 15 attempts. UC Davis actually led the frame 18-16 in kills, but two bad sets and three blocking errors left space for SDSU to escape. The teams had already established the night's pattern: the Aggies could generate offense, while the Aztecs made fewer costly mistakes.
Set two produced 10 ties and two lead changes before SDSU opened a 24-18 margin on an Ella Schabort kill. The cushion nearly vanished. Chandler drove a five-point UC Davis response with a kill and three blocks, cutting the lead to one. SDSU used a timeout. Schabort returned and put away the next ball, ending the set before the Aggies could complete the chase.
The third was cleaner. Schabort's kill helped send the Aztecs ahead 10-4, and Tessa Schouten stretched the advantage to 21-12. UC Davis made one last 7-1 push to close within 22-19. Austin answered with two more kills, then Schabort and Bentley combined for the final block. No extra points were needed this time.
Austin led the match with 15 kills and hit .359, committing only one error in 39 attempts. Schabort and Annabelle De Jager added nine kills apiece. Setter Kendall Mairs collected 33 assists and 13 digs for her third double-double of the season. Schouten, a Davis native, led the match with five blocks, including one solo stop.
Umpierre paced UC Davis with 11 kills, while Gianna Bogan had 10 and Chandler added nine. Mia Starr distributed 34 assists and collected 11 digs. Ximena Cordero Barr led all players with 17 digs. The Aggies' production explains why the first two sets stayed level even as SDSU held the lower error total.
UC Davis finished ahead in kills, 44-43, and digs, 61-57. SDSU held the smaller error count and the better hitting percentage, .200 to .177, while leading 10-9 in blocks and 4-2 in aces. Across the first two sets, the teams combined for 26 ties and eight lead changes. The sweep looks direct in the standings; its first two lines were anything but routine.
The victory moved San Diego State to 3-1 and dropped UC Davis to 1-3. It was the Aztecs' second straight sweep, but tournament play offers little recovery time for a result to settle. SDSU was scheduled to face Cal Poly on Friday afternoon. The useful carryover from Thursday was not the 3-0 label. It was the way Austin and Schabort ended sets immediately after UC Davis applied its strongest pressure.