ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Sophomore outside Devanne Sours had a career-high of 18 kills and senior Chantale Riddle recorded her eighth double-double of the season but it wasn’t enough for the University of New Mexico volleyball team as they fell to Wyoming on Saturday afternoon in four sets by scores of 24-26, 26-28, 25-22 and 18-25.
“I felt good but its always not as fun when we are not winning,” said Sours. “I just wanted to do it for Hannah because she was hurt so I wanted to work hard to help her out.”
The Lobos led most of the first set but Wyoming tied the set at 17-17 and the Lobos struggled to gain momentum. It was point-for-point in the end but a service error gave Wyoming the advantage. The Lobos hit .100 to Wyomings .120 in the set. Sours led the set with four kills while freshman Stephanie Chavez picked up six digs.
The second set the Lobos struggled to get an offense going early. They were down 15-10 and worked their way back into the set tying it up at 21-21. The two teams traded points with the Lobos getting kills from Sours and sophomore Cassie House but three straight kills from Wyoming’s Bridget Shanahan put the Lobos down 2-0 for the match.
The Lobos brought out a new lineup in the third set, bringing Chavez into libero and Julia Warren to the outside. They fell behind early but brought themselves back into the set tying it up at 13-13 after a Riddle kill. The Lobos led the rest of the way and got big kills from junior Skye Gullatt, Riddle and Warren. The Lobos also took advantage of three missed serves at the end of the set by the Cowgirls.
The consistency wasn’t quite there in the fourth set as the Lobos hit .152 with only 10 kills. The Lobos got four kills from Sours but it just wasn’t enough to claim the fourth set victory.
Along with Sours’ 18 kills, Riddle tallied 14 kills and tied a career-high of 19 digs. Chavez put together a career-high of 19 digs and Warren also picked up 19 digs. Henderson picked up five blocks and hit .231 in the middle with four kills. Gullatt finished with a .364 hitting percentage, talling five kills.
The Lobos drop to 11-9 on the season and 4-4 in Mountain West play. They will take a break from conference play on Monday and play host to New Mexico State for the Rio Grande Rivalry at 7 p.m. in Johnson Center.