ARLINGTON, Texas — The University of New Mexico volleyball team received career performances across the board in a 3-1 win as it staved off UT Arlington to win head coach Jeff Nelson’s 200th match at UNM between indoor and beach volleyball.
Cassie House, Julia Warren and Victoria Spragg all notched career highs in kills, Carson Heilborn recorded a personal best in assists and Ashley Kelsey logged a career high in digs to power the Lobos (8-3) to the 25-21, 25-15, 22-25, 28-26 win over the Mavericks (4-9).
“That was a great match,” Nelson said. “We hit well and dug a lot of balls. UTA played really well and pushed us hard. Overall a very good win for us.”
It was an especially good win for Nelson, who tallied his 200th win at New Mexico, with 180 with the indoor team and 20 with the Lobos’ three-year-old beach squad.
Overall, the 10th-year Lobo head coach is 180-104 indoors and 20-20 in the sand with UNM.
“It was an intense win and it was fun to get 200 at UNM in a really good volleyball match,” Nelson said.
The Lobos’ resiliency was a big reason the Lobos were able to leave College Park Center in Arlington with a win, as UNM battled back in sets one and four to claim the victory.
House’s marvelous performance helped key New Mexico’s offense, as the Rio Rancho senior posted a career high-tying 21 kills on a career-best hitting percentage of .457. She finished with just five errors on 35 attempts.
Warren (career high-tying 16 kills) and Spragg (career-high 10 kills) were also instrumental in the Lobos win. Combined with 16 kills from Devanne Sours, four players had double-digit kills in a match for the first time since last November vs. UNLV.
Heilborn finished with 57 assists on the Lobos’ 72 kills, shattering her previous career best by 15 assists.
As a team, UNM hit a season-high .346, with 72 kills and 17 errors on 159 attempts.
Defensively, Kelsey was largely masterful in the back row, compiling a career-best 27 digs (plus a kill on an overpass), while Warren registered her fourth double-double of the year with 12 digs.
“Cassie was outstanding with 21 kills and AK’s 27 digs really helped us out,” Nelson said.
The Lobos outpaced the Mavericks on the stat sheet, as well, finishing with more kills (72 to 55), assists (67 to 51) and digs (69 to 67). UNM also outhit UTA, which hit .222 with 55 kills and 21 errors on 153 attempts.
Set one started out with UT Arlington claiming an early 6-2 lead, but the Lobos battled back to make it 6-7. UTA would score four straight to move up five points at 11-6, maintaining its lead to 15-10.
However, New Mexico finally started clicking, posting a 6-1 run to tie the set at 16-16 before rattling off a 7-2 run to take a commanding 23-19 lead. UTA would score two more points, but UNM would win 25-21.
The Lobos hit .375 in the first set as five players logged at least one kill without an error. House (six kills on eight attempts) and Warren (five kills on 13 attempts) were the early leaders for UNM.
New Mexico continued its torrid streak to open set two, running to an 8-4 lead behind multiple kills from House (four) and Sours (two). The Mavs would get to within two points at 11-9, but UNM unleashed a 10-2 run en route to a 21-11 lead.
UTA would poke out a 4-1 run to make it 22-15, but Sours and Warren finished off the set with kills as the Lobos won the second set 25-15.
House had another blistering performance in set two, capturing six more faultless kills on eight attempts. At intermission, House was hitting .750. But she wasn’t alone, as Sours posted seven kills in set two to pace UNM to a .485 success rate in the set.
UTA — which rallied for a five-set win over Samford in its first match Friday — started to chip into the Lobos’ lead in set three. The Mavericks seized a 4-1 lead out of halftime, extending it to 15-11. UNM reeled off a 6-2 run to cut UTA’s lead to one point at 21-22, but the Mavs finished with three of the final four points for a 25-22 win.
New Mexico didn’t hit particularly poorly in set three (.256) and claimed both of its service aces of the match in the frame. However, UT Arlington hit .317 in the set.
Set four looked like it might be the continuation of a UTA comeback, especially after the Mavericks took a slight 7-6 lead in a pitched fourth set. Both teams traded runs to make it 14-all as the match fell into a pattern of ties (there were 16) and lead changes.
UTA looked to have the third set under control at 22-19, but three straight Lobo points stalled the Mavs’ momentum. Although UT Arlington got the first crack at set point at 24-22, UNM refused to yield, capping the set with a 6-2 run to win 28-26.
“We managed to come from behind in game four to win,” Nelson said. “I’m very proud of our efforts today.”
The Lobos returns to action with two matches Saturday as they face Samford (7-6) at 9 a.m. MT and UTEP (2-8) at 1 p.m. MT.
Fans can follow @UNMVolley on Twitter and Instagram for information and updates on the team!