LOGAN, Utah – The University of New Mexico volleyball team claimed its fifth straight victory with a four-set win over Utah State on Saturday evening at Wayne Estes Center. The Lobos dropped the first set 17-25 but claimed the next three by scores of 26-24, 25-14 and 27-25.
The Lobos started off with two back-to-back blocks by sophomore Cassie House and senior Chantale Riddle but the Utah State a .282 hitting percentage to take the first set. It was tied three times early but the Aggies took advantage of Lobo mistakes and up their lead to 15-11. Utah State went on a 10-6 run to finish out the set. The Lobos hit just .182 for the set with a total of six hitting errors.
The second set was much different for both teams as it was a point-for-point towards the end of the set. The Lobos were down 15-8 when Nelson called a timeout. After the timeout, they came out and went on a 4-0 run to bring the score to 15-12. Utah State called for time but it didn’t stop the Lobos as they tied the set up at 18-18. The two teams traded points the rest of the set and it ended with a House kill and attack error from the Aggies.
It was a big offensive third set for the Lobos as they hit .480, getting five kills from House and four kills from sophomore Devanne Sours. New Mexico started the set with a 7-1 lead as junior Elsa Krieg served the first three and junior Hannah Johnson served the next five after Utah State scored. Krieg went on another run at 16-11. Three straight kills from the Lobos extended the lead to 23-13 and a kill from Sours and a block from Riddle and Krieg ended the third set.
It was another set of trading points for both teams. One team would get a kill and then the other team would put it right back down. The Lobos missed a serve and then the Aggies missed a serve. When it came down to the wire, the Lobos came out on top. The set was tied at 22-22 when House had a big swing on the outside for a kill but Utah State came right back with a kill. House had another kill to take a 24-23 lead but Utah State came back again to tie the set at 24’s. The set was tied one more time at 25 before the Lobos got back-to-back kills from Riddle to end the set and the match.
Johnson recorded her 13th double-double of the season with 48 assists and 10 digs. She also added eight kills which seven of them were dumps on Utah State. Riddle and House each collected 18 kills for a team-high which tied a career-high for House. Riddle hit .351 for the match. Sophomore Julia Warren tallied 22 which also ties a career-high. Sours added 10 kills and Skye Gullatt picked up a team-high six blocks.
As a team, the Lobos recorded a .275 hitting percentage, 66 kills, 62 assists, 13 team blocks and 74 digs. Utah State hit .200 for the match with 56 kills, 51 assists, 64 digs and 11.5 blocks.
The Lobos improve to 16-9 on the season and 8-4 in the Mountain West. They return home next week to take on San Diego State and UNLV for the second time. The UNLV match begins at 7 p.m. on Thursday and Saturday’s match with SDSU will begin at 1 p.m. Live stats and video will be available for both matches at GoLobos.com.