LAS VEGAS — The University of New Mexico volleyball team’s fifth-set woes continued against UNLV Thursday night as the Lobos’ rally fell short in the fifth set, 19-25, 17-25, 25-15, 25-22, 14-16.
Despite superb nights from Cassie House and Hannah Johnson and a match point in the fifth set, the Lobos (14-13, 7-7 Mountain West) couldn’t complete their comeback from two sets down vs. the Rebels (14-12, 7-7), dropping to 1-6 in five set matches.
New Mexico and UNLV are now tied for fourth in the Mountain West with four games remaining.
“I though we did a really good coming back, battling,” UNM head coach Jeff Nelson said. “We really improved our numbers throughout the match. … But in the end, we needed someone to step up.”
House led the Lobos with a gallant and game high-tying 19-kill performance, as she eclipsed her season high by the end of the fourth set. Three other Lobos tallied double-digit kills, including Devanne Sours (14 kills), Skye Gullatt (career high-tying 12) and Julia Warren (10).
Johnson keyed New Mexico’s offense with 55 assists, and added 10 digs for the Lobos.
“I thought Hannah did a great job with distribution,” Nelson said. “Her distribution of sets was really good.”
But UNM struggled to convert early in the match, hitting just .110 through the first two sets before raising its final hitting percentage to a solid .282 (67 kills, 19 errors, 170 attempt) during its rally.
UNLV hit .306 on the night (74-22-170), and received 19 kills from Sadie Stutzman and 17 from Ceannia Kincade.
Defensively, UNM liberos Ashley Kelsey (16 digs) and Mercedes Pacheco (seven) combined for 23 digs, while Warren chipped in nine and Sours seven. House also tallied four digs, and Allie Askew posted a new career high with three digs.
Surprisingly, for two of the better blocking teams in the MW, the block wasn’t much of a factor statistically, as UNM registered five blocks and UNLV 6.5.
New Mexico and UNLV opened the first set evenly, taking it out 6-6 early. However, the Rebels cranked out a 5-1 run for an 11-7 lead, forcing a Lobo timeout. After the break, UNM closed the gap to two points at 13-11, but couldn’t surmount UNLV’s lead entirely.
Although the Lobos came within two points at seven instances in the first set — including a one-point deficit at one point — the Rebels maintained their lead, eventually winning the set 25-19.
Sours and House had three kills each for the Lobos, but UNM only hit .079 in the set. UNLV converted a .270 hitting percentage.
Set two started out as another evenly contested affair, with seven ties through 22 serves. But the Rebels took control with a 10-1 run to go up 20-12. Although the Lobos reeled out a 5-2 spurt late, UNLV’s big lead proved insurmountable as the Rebels won 25-17.
UNLV hit .324 (15-3-37), while UNM improved on its first-set showing with a .143 hitting percentage (10-5-35). House added another four kills to her ledger in the set.
“We had to make some pretty significant lineup changes because we had to take care of some discipline problems,” Nelson said, “so we had to leave a couple kids that are starters out. And it really threw us at the start of the match. I don’t think we ever found a rhythm [in sets one or two].”
New Mexico came out with some fire after intermission, going up 7-2 quickly behind a pair of House kills. UNLV would draw to three points at 15-12, but UNM ran off five straight points for a 20-12 lead.
UNM would extend that run further, turning it into a set-clinching 10-3 streak as the Lobos won the set 25-15.
House and Sours keyed the Lobos in the third frame, with five kills apiece, but Gullatt and Warren added four each, as well. UNM also scorched the scoreboard, too, hitting a sparkling .567 in the set (19-2-30).
“In game three, we were able to go back to our starting lineup and we found a rhythm fairly quickly,” Nelson said.
The Lobos continued to apply the pressure in set four behind an early 7-4 lead, which they expanded to 11-7 behind two Simone Henderson kills. UNLV cut the lead to two at 14-12, but New Mexico refused to yield, going up 18-14 to force a Rebel timeout.
Both squads kept trading big point after big point, and UNLV strung together four straight to tie the set at 21. But UNM scored four of the final five points to secure the fourth set 25-22 and force a fifth set.
UNM started set five with a 5-1 run, and maintained that four-point margin through the side change at 8-4. But UNLV responded with a 7-2 run out of the change to take an 11-10 lead. Each side began swapping scores, but UNM eventually took the lead at 14-13 off of a House block.
But UNLV scored the final three points after one of its team leaders, Bree Hammel, went down with a leg injury, winning the fifth set 16-14 to claim the match 3-2.
“I think UNLV really stepped up and kept every ball in play after [Hammel went down] and I think they wanted to win for her,” Nelson said. “And I think we were tentative. I think we played safe and don’t think we played to win.
The Lobos return to action Saturday afternoon as they take on Fresno State at 2 p.m. in the Save Mart Center in Fresno.
NOTES: New Mexico started Johnson, Sours, Warren, House, Gullatt, Pacheco and Mariessa Carrasco, benching Henderson and Kelsey for the first set for a violation of team rules … With her 55 assists, Johnson is just 176 assists from the program record in assists with four matches remaining in her collegiate career … UNM is just 1-6 this season in five-set matches, and is now 1-8 when losing the first set and 2-11 when losing the second set … However, with the loss, UNM falls to 10-3 when winning the third set … UNLV now leads the all-time series 22-15, and has won six of the last eight matches