Lobos Drop 3-1 Decision to New Mexico State

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Hannah Johnson posted a double-double and Julia Warren had 11 kills as the University of New Mexico volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to in-state rival New Mexico State Tuesday night.

Despite winning the first set and rallying in the fourth set, the Lobos fell 25-20, 20-25, 14-25, 22-25 to the Aggies in the Pan American Center in their final non-conference match of the season.

“I think we started well,” New Mexico head coach Jeff Nelson said. “We were low-error in the first two games. … But then we had more libero problems tonight and it creates a lot of stress for our team and then we struggled after that.”

Stephanie Chavez started at libero for New Mexico and had a team-leading 12 digs through the first three sets. But struggles passing forced Nelson to switch to freshman Mercedes Pacheco in the fourth set, continuing a trend of changing liberos during the match

Offensively, Devanne Sours led the Lobos offensively with 14 kills, but had six in the first set. Cassie House added eight kills, while Johnson finished with 38 assists and 11 digs.

Middle blockers Simon Henderson and Skye Gullatt combined for 10 kills and eight blocks.

The Lobos opened on a mission in set one, scoring seven of the first 10 points to take an early 7-3 lead. The Aggies tied it at 9-all and reeled off three straight for a 12-11 lead, as both teams settled into trading points.

The score was tied 12 times in set one, including at 20-20. But the Lobos emphatically scored the final five points of the set behind two Gullatt kills and a pair of NM State errors to win the opening set 25-20.

New Mexico hit a sparkling .412 in the set, its third-best percentage in a set this season.

Both teams followed the same script to open the second frame, as NM State jumped out to a 7-3 lead. The Lobos couldn’t cut into the Aggies’ lead during the set until late, using a 5-2 surge — sparked by a yellow card on Johnson — to get to within four points at 24-20.

However, NM State claimed the second set by the same score as UNM did the first, 25-20.

New Mexico was still able to nab 13 kills in the set, but six attack errors and three service errors ate into the Lobos’ productivity.

The Aggies opened the third set with a 7-3 and extended that to 12-6 before a 3-1 Lobo run made it 13-9 in favor of the Aggies. NM State would eventually expanded its lead to 10 at 23-13 via an 8-3 streak.

Warren scored a kill late, but New Mexico State would win 25-14. The Lobo hit just .024 in the set.

New Mexico came out firing in set four, flying to a 4-1 lead to open the frame. The Lobos would beat back an Aggie run to go up 12-8, but gave up a 10-2 NM State run. UNM closed the gap to 18-15 and stalled four straight match points for NM State to get to within two at 24-22. But the Aggies would win the fourth set 25-22 to take the match in four sets.

The Lobos return to action Saturday as they take on Mountain West foe San Jose State at 2 p.m. MT in San Jose, Calif.

Notes: New Mexico has lost to NM State for the first time since 2012 after winning two straight in the series … NM State now leads the all-time series between the Rio Grande rivals 27-40 … Johnson now have five double-doubles in 2015 and 39 in her career