SAN JOSE, Calif. — In their first five trips to San Jose to play San José State, the Lobos didn’t lose.
Trip No. 6 was no different.
Devanne Sours posted an errorless 15 kills and Skye Gullatt and Cassie House both stuffed seven block apiece as the University of New Mexico volleyball team routed San José State in straight sets Saturday.
Behind a superb all-around performance, the Lobos (9-7, 2-1 Mountain West) smashed the Spartans (10-7, 2-2) 25-23, 25-11, 25-13 in Spartan Gym in San Jose. New Mexico hit .305 on the match and bested San José State across the board statistically.
“It was a really nice match,” New Mexico head coach Jeff Nelson said. “… I thought today was just a complete performance for us.”
Sours’ gem of a match led the Lobos’ charge, as she hit a career-best .536 with 15 kills and zero errors. The junior from Tatum, N.M. also added six digs and a game-high three service aces.
Simone Henderson chipped in eight kills (with just one error for a .500 hitting percentage), while Gullatt and House dominated the net. Gullatt also had four kills, while Hannah Johnson paced the offense with 27 assists.
Johnson added eight digs, one behind team leader Ashley Kelsey’s nine.
The Lobos also smothered the Spartans’ offense, holding San José State to a negative .009 hitting percentage. New Mexico — which also held advantages in kills (34 to 29), assists (31 to 25), aces (8 to 2) and digs (37 to 35) — controlled the net fiercely, too, with 14 total blocks to SJSU’s four.
In the first set, neither team could muster any substantial advantage, with the largest lead exerted by any team topping out at three points. Both teams opened the match trading points, and San José State posted a 6-1 run to take a 13-11 lead.
But the Spartans couldn’t capitalize on the their momentum, as the Lobos tied the set back up at 14. San José State would take a 22-19 lead late, but Sours hit two aces and nabbed a kill to knot the set back up.
UNM rallied behind a Gullatt kill and two SJSU attack errors to claim the tightly contested set 25-23.
Set two opened up the same way, as both teams were were tied at 7-all. San José State would go up 9-7, but then the Lobos exploded.
After trailing 9-7, New Mexico closed on an 18-2 run to win the set 25-11, absolutely dominating San José State in the process. The Spartans couldn’t crack the Lobos’ block, and committed 11 attack errors during the Lobo onslaught.
“We started passing better and took some really good swings,” Nelson said. But Cassie House had a whole bunch of blocks in that run.”
New Mexico finished the set hitting .375 (9-0-24) for their first errorless set since August 30, 2014 vs. UTEP. San José State, hampered by the Lobos, hit negative .122 (9-14-41).
The Lobos would continue firing after the break, going up 9-1 through 10 serves. The Spartans would get to within four at 10-6, but UNM wouldn’t relinquish the lead, riding a set-clinching 10-1 run to a 25-13 set win.
New Mexico’s offense clicked again in the final frame, as the Lobos hit .393 (14-3-28). San José State, again bothered by UNM’s size and net play, hit just .028 (9-8-36) in the set.
“Games two and three, we finally just busted loose and played great ball and stayed intense even when we had big leads or made mistakes,” Nelson said. “We just stayed on top of it.”
It was the Lobos’ first 3-0 win since Sept. 19 vs. LIU Brooklyn, and made UNM 5-2 in 3-0 games.
New Mexico returns to action next Thursday vs. No. 20 Colorado State in Fort Collins, Colo.