Oct. 1, 2005
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico volleyball team came back from a 2-1 deficit to force game five against San Diego State Saturday night in Johnson Gym but the Aztecs rallied for a 16-14 win to take the match, 3-1. Senior Chelsea Sondrup hit a team-high .650 (15K-2E-20TA) with four blocks to lead UNM.
The Lobos took game one, 30-24, after coming back from a six-point deficit at 19-14. Sondrup put down four kills in game one while sophomore Samie Weber added two and three blocks. The Lobos forced 14 Aztec errors, holding them to a -.100 hitting percentage (10K-14E-40TA).
San Diego State fired back, taking game two, 30-26 and game three, 30-27. The Aztec’s Melanie Greene put down 10 kills and two blocks over games two and three while Lindsey Noll chipped in with five kills and four blocks to put SDSU within one match of the victory. Freshman Michelle Miller turned in the most kills over the two-game stretch, putting down 10 with two blocks. Senior Nicole Ryan added nine kills. Sondrup had four kills and a block in game three.
Sondrup, with the assistance of Weber and junior Kelly Therkelsen, put New Mexico back in the game with a 30-24 win in game four. Sondrup was a perfect 3-for-3 with two blocks while Weber had five kills and two blocks. Therkelsen recorded three kills and three blocks as UNM took a 10-9 lead and never looked back.
Game five was consistently close with eight ties and four lead changes. With the score tied at 14, Leah Lathrop went back to serve for SDSU, getting a kill from Noll followed by a UNM attack error for the game and match. Noll, Audra Dent and Alicia Waller each had three kills in game five. Ryan had three kills to lead UNM while Therkelsen and Miller added two apiece.
For the game, Ryan put down a team-high 16 kills while Miller posted 14 and Therkelsen had 11. Weber had eight blocks with nine kills. Freshman Gayle Tripp had a team-high 15 digs and classmate Sarah Kwasigroch dished out 63 of UNM’s 66 assists.
The Lobos (9-5, 1-3 MWC) return to the court on Wednesday, October 5, hosting Air Force (4-14, 0-4 MWC). UNM then heads out on a three-match road trip over the next two weekends.