TAMPA, Fla. — On a trip that started with the threat of a hurricane, the Lobos finished it with a near picture-perfect game.
The University of New Mexico volleyball team received strong performances across the board as it swept Western Carolina in straight sets Saturday afternoon 25-17, 25-12, 25-6 to close out the USF Invitational.
After sputtering last night versus tournament host South Florida, the Lobos (5-2) rebounded with a straight-sets shellacking of the Catamounts (3-4), who struggled after losing their team captain and starting setter to injury.
UNM finished with a 2-1 record on the weekend, bookending the trip that opened with Hurricane Hermine storming north of Tampa with wins over Stetson and Western Carolina.
“We just feel like we hadn’t played well our last few matches, so it was nice to go out and get after it,” UNM head coach Jeff Nelson said. “Western Carolina is a good team, but when they lost their setter, it became a little overwhelming for them. And we really capitalized on it and went after them.”
New Mexico had little trouble getting by Western Carolina, relying on flawless lines by Cassie House and Victoria Spragg, more steady play from Ashley Kelsey and Julia Warren and another strong performance from setter Carson Heilborn.
Kelsey and Heilborn were both named to the USF Invitational All-Tournament team for the Lobos, who thoroughly dominated Saturday’s match in the Sun Dome.
“I was really excited,” Heilborn said. “I wasn’t expecting it. It was really great and I couldn’t have done it without the team.”
The team’s performance certainly was a big factor in the Lobos’ win over WCU, as UNM emphatically won every key statistical battle.
New Mexico registered a solid .268 hitting percentage, with 34 kills, compared the the Catamounts’ .021 line with 20 kills. UNM also posted more assists (32 to 18), digs (44 to 33) and blocks (nine to four) and decisively won the serving battle (six to zero).
“It was a good game for us,” Nelson said. “… We just played a good solid match that we need to today.”
Individually, House registered 10 kills on a career-best .625 hitting percentage (zero errors on 16 attempts), and Spragg hit .727 with an errorless eight kill on 11 attempts.
Heilborn posted 22 assists a match after very nearly missing a triple-double versus South Florida, again leading the Lobos at setter.
“Carson Heilborn overall had a good weekend,” Nelson said. “She hit over .500 for the weekend and she was one kill short of a triple-double last night.”
Kelsey (14 digs, three aces) and Warren (11 digs, two aces) also contributed strong stat lines, keeping WCU off-balance with strong passing and even better serving.
“Our serving was pretty overwhelming,” Nelson said. “Ashley Kelsey and Julia Warren went back and had a huge run.”
Western Carolina took control of the first set early, claiming a 7-3 lead on the Lobos. UNM started to chip into the Catamounts’ lead, whittling it down to two points at 14-12, before uncorking a decisive 14-3 run to win the frame 25-17.
House led the way with six of her 10 kills as UNM and WCU battled in the opening frame. The Lobos hit .294 with 14 kills, while the Catamounts hit .273 with 12 kills. New Mexico’s big advantage was serving, scoring six points between two aces and four WCU errors.
The second set was evenly played to start, as both teams played to an 8-all tie. But New Mexico broke the set open with a 17-4 run as WCU committed 10 errors during the Lobos’ spurt.
House added four final kills to power New Mexico, but neither team played particularly error-free ball. UNM hit .069, while Western Carolina hit -.200 with just three kills against 11 errors, losing their setter Jo-Leigh VerVelde during the second set.
“We got off to a slow start but finished game one really strong and had a good start in game two,” Nelson said. “But their setter went down so that hurt them.
“We went through that last night [with J’Kaylee Clark] and it’s tough to lose a player in the middle of a match and really tough when it’s your setter. They just couldn’t recover from it.”
Without their setter, the Catamounts had no answer to New Mexico in set three, as the Lobos blasted out a 20-3 lead. Western Carolina would score a few points late, but finished with six points in the set, which is tied for the fewest points yielded by New Mexico in a set to 25 points.
Spragg (four kills) and freshman Lauren Twitty (three) led the Lobos to a sparkling .526 hitting percentage, while Kelsey notched all three of her aces during the stanza.
New Mexico is back in action next weekend as they host Arkansas and defending NCAA champion Nebraska for the Lobo Classic in WisePies Arena.