Sept. 2, 2005
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico volleyball team evened their record at 1-1 with a 3-0 shutout (30-24, 30-27, 30-24) over Northern Arizona (0-1) in match two of the Comcast Lobo Invitational.
In game one, the Lobos jumped out to a 10-4 lead thanks to seven Lumberjack errors. NAU put together two runs, one of which saw them score five consecutive points to pull within one (23-22). The Lobos took advantage of the Lumberjacks in the end, forcing three errors to end the game.
Game two was extremely close with 13 ties and eight lead changes. New Mexico finally gained possession of the lead (24-23) on a NAU error and didn’t look back, taking the game 30-27. Senior Nicole Ryan served up an ace while junior Jennifer Heasty put down two kills in the final six points of the game. Sophomore Samie Weber notched the winning point with a kill.
Ryan, Heasty and Weber guided the Lobos in the final game. Ryan slammed down five kills on 10 attemps, Heasty put down four kills on six attempts and Weber recorded two kills on five attempts. None of the three committed an error as the Lobos cruised to a 30-24 win, consistently holding a six-point lead throughout.
Senior Nicole Ryan led the Lobos with 13 kills and 21 attempts, hitting .524 on the evening. Junior Jennifer Heasty added 10 kills on 16 attempts, hitting .500. Sophomore Samie Weber posted a team-high .583 hitting percentage (7K-0E-12TA). Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch dished out 40 of the team’s 43 assists while sophomore Kim Cox recorded 11 digs.
Senior Chelsea Sondrup moved closer to a new UNM career blocking record, now two blocks away from second and eight from a new record. Sondrup has 319 blocks in her career and is the current all-time leader in block assists.
For Northern Arizona, Ellie Butterfield put down a team-high 10 kills, Kelly Verboom recorded 30 assists and Marie Pastores had 10 digs.
The win ended the Lobos’ two-game losing streak to the Lumberjacks. The last UNM win dates back to Sept. 9, 1989, when they also won 3-0.
In the opening match of the Comcast Invitational, Villanova swept Lamar 30-15, 30-17, 31-29.
Session two of the tournament will start at 10 a.m. with Villanova taking on Northern Arizona. UNM will face Lamar at 12:30 p.m. Session three will begin at 5 p.m. with Northern Arizona vs. Lamar and the Lobos will take on Villanova to complete the tournament at 7:30 p.m.