Oct. 4, 2008
Lobos coach Jeff Nelson said the Utah Utes had two huge advantages Saturday afternoon in Johnson Gym in their 3-1 win over the University of New Mexico volleyball team.
The Utes had the energy.
The Utes had the advantage in numbers.
“We only had three or four kids show up to play today and that’s not enough,” said Nelson after watching his Lobos fall 25-21, 28-26, 13-25 and 25-21.
“We are talking about some changes that need to be made. We are not good enough to coast. I thought we came out flat and that was some of the worst energy in games one and two that we have shown all season. It was a real disappointment.”
Said UNM senior Jeanne Fairchild: “This is a six-person game and you can’t go out there with just three or four positions playing well.”
The Lobos had come off a dramatic sweep of Brigham Young Thursday night and were looking to make it a sweep of the two powerful squads from the state of Utah. That’s tough to do when you fall down 0-2 to Utah.
The Lobos came out of the Game Two intermission looking to steal momentum and energy away from the Utes. They did it with a dominating 25-13 win.
“We talked about momentum and talked about how even though we were battling in one and two, we just weren’t consistent,” said Fairchild, who now has 1,005 kills in her UNM career. “But Utah is a really good team. They have been at the top of the conference, so they know how to compete and they aren’t going to roll over for you.”
The Utes definitely didn’t roll over in game four. They jumped up 6-0 and 10-3 before UNM staged a determined rally to tie the game at 17-all. The Lobos also had it tied 21-all before Utah pulled away for the final win.
“If anyone would show up and energize a little bit, we’re still out there playing,” said Nelson. “We’re very disappointed that we still haven’t learned that lesson that you have to bring it every night. I thought Gayle (Tripp) and Jeanne had great matches, but as a senior and a leader, you have to inspire your teammates to have great matches.”
Tripp finished the four-game match with 25 digs. Jade Michaelsen had 47 assists and Fairchild had 24 kills.
The loss drops UNM to 13-3 overall and 3-2 in MWC games. The Lobos go on the Mountain West Conference road next week with games at Wyoming and at Colorado State.
Coach Nelson also said he was disappointed in his teams’ mental toughness going at Utah.
“I honestly don’t think our team expects to beat Utah, but it’s time to get it done,” he said. “I expect to beat Utah and our team should expect to beat Utah and I don’t think they did.”
The third set obviously was huge for the Lobos. They came out of the break down two games to zip and needed to steal way the Utes’ momentum and energy. The Lobos got some early massive spikes and jumped to a nice 7-2 lead which brought Utah coach Beth Launiere to her feet asking for a timeout.
It didn’t help much. A few minutes later UNM had stretched that five-point lead to 9-3 and then 11-4. Pretty soon it was a good, old-fashion pounding. The Lobos went up 19-7 and Launiere again requested a timeout. The game was out of reach, but Launiere had to be hoping her team could reestablish some emotion for the fourth game. The Lobos squashed Utah 25-13. But could the Lobos beat the talented Utes three straight?
Not quite.
The fourth game did not start well for UNM. It fact, it was awful. The Utes jumped to a fat 6-0 lead, the sixth point a block of a Fairchild spike. UNM finally got a point on a Utah serve into the net to make it 6-1. Still a deep hole to dig out of. Utah slid up 7-1 on a Lobo dig that went wide. A savage spike by Ute Lori Baird made it 8-2. This was not the same Utah team that came out of the break in a fog.
Another spike by Utah’s Kathryn Haynie pushed Utah up 9-3. A Utah block made it 10-3. The Lobos were down seven points in a game in which big deficits are not easily overcome.
However, the Lobos did stage a nice rally. They cut the Utah lead down to 12-8. Utah called a timeout and wisely set up Baird in the middle. She pounded the ball for a winner to slow the UNM rally and put Utah up 13-8. But the Lobos weren’t going away. A block by Fairchild made it 13-10. A spike by Fairchild and it was 13-11. A Utah lift and it was 13-12 – and a game again.
Utah went up 15-13, 16-14 and 17-15. Still a long way to go and not much of a UNM deficit. A nasty spike by Anna Lehne and it was 17-17. The crowd got into it, but Utah quieted the group of Lobos with a spike to make it 18-17. UNM got a block from Meeter and it was knotted again at 18-all.
Baird struck again for Utah. A hard spike that Tripp couldn’t quite save. Then Fairchild went sky high for one of her monster spikes and it was 19-19.
Baird again; 20-19 Utah. A Meeter spike into the net: 21-19 Utah. Fairchild on the right side for a power spike and it is was 21-20 Utah. Fairchild again, this time from the left corner and it was 21-all. Baird got an off-speed placement shot to make it 22-21 Utah.
A Utah block on a Taylor Hadfield spike and the Utes slipped ahead by two points, 23-21. Coach Nelson called a timeout to regroup his Lobos.
The teams broke the huddles with Utah serving. A nice Fairchild spike was blocked and Utah was up 24-21, needing only a point to win it. They got it for a 25-21 win.
The Lobos mistake was falling into a big hole early. Utah won the first set 25-21 and outlasted the Lobos on the second set 28-26.
In the first game, Utah took advantage of two stretches to slip into leads when UNM’s Fairchild had rotated out of the lineup.
The Utes had nice leads of 11-7 and 15-11 and 20-15. The Lobos kept cutting those leads down, but never led in the match after scoring the set’s first point. The Lobos cut it to 22-20 and 23-21 on a Fairchild spike, but the Utes took the last two points of the set to grab the 25-21 win.
The Lobo took over control of the second set at 16-14 on a long, cross-court spike by Lisa Meeter. UNM led 19-16 before the Utes pulled ahead 20-19. Then the game went into a see-saw affair. Utah up 21-20. UNM up 22-21. Utah up 24-23. UNM up 25-24 and 26-25. Utah then scored the final three points to post the 28-26 win. The final point was a UNM spike that went wide.
Editor’s note: Richard Stevens is a former Associate Sports Editor and sports columnist for The Albuquerque Tribune. You can reach him at rstevens50@comcast.net.