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Offense Powers Lobos to 3-1 Win vs. Tennessee Tech

TOLEDO, Ohio — The University of New Mexico volleyball team captured a four-set win over Tennessee Tech Saturday afternoon, holding off the Golden Eagles 25-15, 24-26, 25-17, 21-17 to cap the Blue/Gold Invitational.

Playing without freshman starter Hailey Rubino, who’s been sidelined the past three matches with injury issues, the Lobos (8-4) closed the tournament portion of their non-conference schedule with a solid performance inside Savage Arena in Toledo.

“We’ve been a little disheveled since we lost Hailey and we’ve got to settle back in and find ourselves,” UNM head coach Jeff Nelson said. “But I think this is a good time to do it. We’re heading into conference and we can regroup. Overall, things have gone pretty well.”

Behind strong play from Lauren Twitty (20 kills), Mariessa Carrasco (12) and Carly Beddingfield (10), New Mexico was able to rebound from Friday’s loss to tournament host Toledo and regain some momentum heading into next week’s Mountain West opener at Colorado State.

Outside of a second-set loss, the Lobos largely controlled the match against the Golden Eagles (2-10), displaying more of the consistency and leadership that eluded them Friday.

“I thought we came out good after really struggling last night with consistency and leadership,” Nelson said.

As a team, New Mexico hit .278, (57 kills, 15 errors, 151 attempts), easily outdistancing Tennessee Tech’s .126 rate (45-25-159). The Lobos were led by the trio of Twitty, Carrasco and Beddingfield as they combined for 42 of the team’s 57 kills.

All three also hit over .300, with Carrasco’s career-best .571 attack percentage leading the way.

“I thought Mariessa had a great weekend, hitting over .450 for us for the weekend,” Nelson said. “She really lit it up in game three and got us going and got us back on track.”

Beddingfield, in one of her best matches as a Lobo, hit .429 (10-1-21), while Twitty’s career-best 20 kills came on a .319 clip (20-5-47).


Carson Heilborn finished with a game-high 43 assists, while usual starting libero Ashley Kelsey — moved outside in Rubino’s stead — anchored the Lobos’ defense with 15 digs from the outside hitter position.

Libero Mercedes Pacheco (14 digs), Yasmin Tan (career-best 11 digs) and Heilborn (10) also helped out New Mexico’s floor defense, with Victoria Spragg (six blocks) and Beddingfield (four) contributing at the net.

The Lobos opened the match with five straight points, eventually extending their lead to 16-7 as Tennessee Tech committed 13 errors. The Golden Eagles would cut the lead down to seven points at 18-11, but more miscues fueled UNM’s hegemony.

Carrasco and Twitty would both score kills late and Abbey Willison would win the set 25-15 with an ace.

New Mexico only finished with eight kills in the set, relying more on Tennessee Tech’s mistakes. TTU hit .000 (9 kills, 9 errors, 31 attacks) in the set.

Set two started much more evenly, with Tennessee Tech claiming a lead at 6-4. A 6-1 run would put UNM ahead 12-9, but TTU answered with a 5-1 spurt to regain a one-point advantage at 14-13. Both teams would continue to trade punches, with the match eventually settling into a 22-22 tie.

However, with UNM on set point at 24-23, the Golden Eagles reeled off three straight points to win the set 26-24.

Coming out of intermission, Tennessee Tech surged ahead 7-1 in set three, forcing a Lobo timeout. But New Mexico responded with an 8-1 run to go up 9-8, only yielding the lead back to TTU at 10-9. Both teams would fight to a 14-14 tie, but UNM broke the set open with seven unanswered points for a 21-14 lead.

The Lobos would win the set 25-17, effectively closing the set on a 24-10 run. Twitty came through with seven kills in the set, while Carrasco tallied four errorless putaways. New Mexico hit. 310 in the set, with TTU only converting a .100 clip.

“We really regrouped well in game three,” Nelson said. “… We just settled down and settled in a little bit and we’re able get back on track and finish playing some pretty good ball.”

With momentum in hand, UNM rolled out to a 6-2 lead, eventually expanding the margin to seven at 14-7. The Golden Eagles would draw to within seven points at 19-12 and 20-13, but the Lobos’ advantage was too much as they won the set 25-17.

Twitty came alive in the final set, launching nine errorless kills as Carrasco (four kills), Kelsey (three) and Spragg (two) also finished without an error. UNM hit .474 (19-1-38) in the set.

The Lobos return to action next Thursday as they open up Mountain West play vs. Colorado State in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Fans can follow @UNMLoboVB on Twitter and Instagram for information and updates on the team!