Sept. 12, 2008
LINCOLN, Neb. — As an expected crowd of over 13,000 filtered into the the University of Nebraska’s Bob Devaney Center, the University of New Mexico volleyball team outlasted St. John’s University, 25-23, 35-33, 25-23, to get the Ameritas Players Challenge underway. The Lobos are now 8-0 on the season and will play the winner of the match between LSU and No. 2 Nebraska on Saturday.
The biggest lead held by either team was six by the Lobos in the first set at 16-10. St. John’s (5-4) came back to tie the score at 17 and take a 19-17 lead. The Lobos tied the set at 22 on a kill by Anna Lehne, then took the lead 23-22 on a kill by Jeanne Fairchild. Lehne went on to have two more kills for UNM to seal the win, 25-23. Lehne had six kills and two blocks in the set to lead the Lobos.
In the second set, UNM gained its first lead at 13-12 on a block by Lehne and Jade Michaelsen after battling back from a five-point deficit. From that point on neither team had a lead of more than two points. The teams tied 11 times from the 23-23 mark with the Lobos prevailing at 35-33 on a block by Allie Suiter and an attack error by the Red Storm. Fairchild had eight kills, while Lisa Meeter had six to lead UNM.
Fairchild had seven kills in the third set, including one to give the Lobos the largest lead by either team, 22-19. After a St. John’s timeout, the Red Storm tied the match up at 22. The teams tied again at 23. Fairchild pounded a kill and Taylor Hadfield made a big block for the 25-23 win.
Fairchild tied her season-high with 19 kills to lead UNM. Meeter and Lehne had 12 kills each. Michaelsen had a season-high 47 assists and tied Lehne with four blocks. Gayle Tripp had a season-high 26 digs in a match that had several long rallies.
The Cornhuskers are expecting one of the largest regular season crowds in NCAA history at their match against LSU on Friday evening. Nebraska had sold 13,050 tickets to Friday’s matches by Thursday morning. The record is 13,396 set Oct. 21, 2007 at the Devaney Center when Nebraska hosted Hawaii.
In case you were wondering … the Lobos’ 24-set win streak is not even close to the NCAA record, a 105-set win streak the University of Florida put together in 2003 from Aug. 23-Dec. 18.