Lobos Women’s Volleyball – Mountain West Action – Johnson Center
Thursday: Colorado State 3, New Mexico 0 (17-25, 23-25, 22-25)
Up Next: 2 p.m., Saturday, Wyoming at Lobos, Johnson Center
By Richard Stevens — Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
If you were looking for the fight in the Lobo that Coach Jeff Nelson said his New Mexico team needed to upset No. 6 Colorado State, all you had to do was watch Lobo Stephanie Chavez at work.
Chavez, at 5-foot-4, was not the biggest or tallest volleyball player on the court Thursday night in Johnson Center, but there might not have been a bigger heart in the gym.
“Stephanie was fantastic tonight the way she was digging balls and hustling,” said Nelson after UNM’s 3-0 loss to Colorado State.
Chavez was all over the place vs. the hard-hitting Rams sacrificing knees and elbows in keeping CSU bombs from scoring points. She had a career-high 16 digs and Simone Henderson was equally impressive at the net with a career-high nine blocks: four solos and five assisted.
“We were all really excited to play them,” said Chavez. “We knew we would have to play super hard and play well to beat them. I think we did work hard. It stinks that we didn’t win, but we’re going to keep working and just do better and better.”
Henderson and Chavez threw out some nice numbers, but Nelson was not happy with UNM’s hitting percentage that actually dropped with each game: .091 to .067 to .047.
“We had a whole new lineup tonight and after game one we played better and we battled better,” said Nelson, who saw his Lobos drop to 11-8 and 4-3 in the Mountain West.
“But we got a zero (.080) hitting performance and two .100 (under .200) hitting performances on (our corners). We are taking better swings, but we can’t win against a good team without better hitting numbers on the left side and the right side.
“We out blocked them which is really good because that’s a great team but we have to have better attack numbers.”
The Rams had 44 kills to 32 for the Lobos. CSU hit at a .208 percentage and UNM hit at .066 for the three games. UNM All-American Chantale Riddle hit .080, Cassie House hit .130, Skye Gullatt hit .167 and Devanne Sours hit .125.
CSU’s Adrianna Culbert had a monster game with 12 kills and a .409 hitting percentage. CSU also got a .243 hitting night from Acacia Andrews and a .286 night from Marlee Reynolds. That pretty much was the difference as the gap between digs and blocks were close between the two MW teams.
“After game one, I think we felt we could battle them,” said Nelson. “But we made some crucial errors and you can’t do that against a team like Colorado State.”
The Lobos lost the first game 25-17, but took CSU to the wire in losses at 25-23 and 25-22. “I think the last two games proved we can play in the Top 25,” said Chavez.
The Lobos’ Hannah Johnson was a question mark before the game, nursing a high-ankle sprain. She ended the match with 32 assists and 10 digs.
“Hannah was really hurting after game two,” said Nelson. “She told me, ‘My ankle has its own heartbeat.’ She played really well at 70 percent. I was really proud of her.”
First Set. Colorado State 25, New Mexico 17
The Rams took control early going up 13-7. The Lobos hung around, but No. 6 CSU never allowed UNM to cut into the lead enough to really challenge. CSU won 25-17 launching 18 kills to eight for the home team. House had three kills for the Lobos and Riddle had one. Stephanie Chavez had four digs from the back row and Riddle added three. CSU got five kills from 5-10 Adrianna Culbert and four from 6-foot-1 Jasmine Hanna. CSU had a .316 hitting percentage and UNM hit at a .091 clip.
Second Set: Colorado State 25, New Mexico 23
The Lobos came out of their huddle fired up and quickly pounded CSU into a 5-1 hole. The Rams called a timeout. Riddle came up with a block to make it 6-1. CSU cut UNM’s lead to 6-4, but UNM took control of the net to go back up 11-5. CSU asked for another huddle. The Rams came out a bit more aggressive. It was their turn to take over the net and pull to 13-12. It was UNM’s turn to call a timeout. The Lobos then went up 16-13, but CSU closed to 16-all. The Rams took their first lead of the set at 17-16. UNM called for another huddle. CSU went up 20-17. UNM cut it to 22-21, 23-22 and 24-23, but CSU hammered down the final point to take the 25-23 win.
CSU’s hitting percentage dipped to .100 in the second set but UNM also fell from .091 to .067. The Rams were hitting .205 for the first two sets and UNM was at .077. House had six kills and Riddle had five after two sets. Culbert had 10 for CSU. Simone Henderson had eight total blocks for the Lobos – four solos and four assists. Stephanie Chavez had nine digs.
Third Set: Colorado State 25, New Mexico 22
The third set was a see-saw battle.
The Lobos went up 5-3 and 6-4 before CSU claimed a 7-6 lead and an 8-7 lead. The Lobos battled back into a 10-9 lead. The teams went back and forth, but CSU broke out of a 12-all tie into a 15-12 lead that convinced Nelson to call his team into a huddle.
The talk worked. CSU went up quickly 16-12, but when UNM cut the gap to 16-15, CSU went into a huddle. UNM forced a tie at 16-all and again at 18-18 and 19-19. CSU drifted up 21-19 and UNM called time. You don’t want the No. 6 team in the nation to have momentum going into the 20s. The Lobos stayed close down 22-21 and 23-22, but CSU scored the final two points of the set to claim the 3-0 match win.