LOS ANGELES — Devanne Sours led the Lobos with 14 kills and Hannah Johnson poured in 33 assists, but it wasn’t enough as New Mexico volleyball fell 3-1 to Pepperdine to open the USC Classic Thursday.
Despite winning the first set 25-20, the Lobos dropped the final three sets 25-22, 25-21 and 25-19 to the Waves at the Galen Center in Los Angeles. New Mexico falls to 4-3 on the season.
New Mexico jumped out to a 5-1 lead early in set one, leaning on a pair of aces by Cassie House and two kills from Simone Henderson. But the Waves exploited the Lobos’ defense for leads at 9-8 and 16-15.
UNM found some momentum late and closed the set on a 10-5 run behind kills from Sours and Henderson. The Lobos hit .235 in the opening set, with three team aces and four kills by Henderson.
The second set saw Pepperdine claim a quick lead, doubling up New Mexico 8-4. After the Waves went up 17-11, the Lobos began chipping into the lead, tallying runs of of 3-0 and 5-0 to tie the frame at 20. However, Pepperdine sandwiched five kills around an ace and kill by Sours for the 25-22 set win.
UNM hit .300 in the set, but yielded a .361 success rate to Pepperdine.
Neither team could build any sort of substantial lead in set three, with 10 ties in the set. The largest lead either squad built was two points, until Pepperdine opened a 22-18 lead off of two Lobo errors.
New Mexico couldn’t sustain a run in the set, answering their own surges with errors. Despite a pair of late kills by Sours, Pepperdine finished off set three 25-21. The Waves hit .385 in the set.
With their backs against the wall, the Lobos jumped out to a 5-1 lead in set four, but couldn’t keep the Waves from taking a lead at 12-8. New Mexico managed to tie the set and keep contact at 16-all, but the Waves rode a 9-3 run to a 25-19 set win.
Both teams struggled to hit in the final set, with Pepperdine hitting .194 and the Lobos converting just .022.
Overall, New Mexico hit just .186, nearly matching their lowest rate of the season (.184 last Friday in a win against Santa Clara), and could only produce 49 kills.
By comparison, Pepperdine finished with a .268 success rate, the highest yielded by the Lobos this season.
Henderson (11 kills) joined Sours as the only Lobo with double-digit kills, while Julia Warren registered seven kills to go with 12 digs. Mercedes Pacheco collected 14 digs to lead UNM.
New Mexico returns to action tomorrow as it plays No. 6 USC at 9 p.m. MT on the Pac-12 Networks.