ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico volleyball team battled UNLV Tuesday night in Johnson Center, coming within points of taking a lead on one of the top teams in the Mountain West before falling in four sets, 16-25, 25-19, 30-32, 16-25.
Although the Lobos (10-10, 1-6 MW) couldn’t top the Rebels (17-2, 6-1), they showed a renewed attitude, relying on strong performances from senior outside hitters Devanne Sours (15 kills, nine digs), Cassie House (13 kills, two aces) and Julia Warren (nine kills, 13 digs).
“I’m happy that I saw some fight tonight,” 10th-year New Mexico head coach Jeff Nelson said. “I saw us play better volleyball. I think a lot of that is because of the confidence of having Julia back there.”
Warren, who played full-rotation in her fourth game back from a knee injury, provided some of the spark that the Lobos have lacked during their recent six-game slide.
But with the all three senior pinhitters playing, UNM posted a solid team performance, giving UNLV and its lofty record a run for its money for the better part of two sets.
“Overall, we played two really good games tonight,” Nelson said.
After dropping the opening set, New Mexico rolled in set two and had a number of chances to win a drawn-out set three to take a 2-1 lead. And while that lead never materialized, the Lobos showed well as they closed out a difficult three-game homestand.
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On the night, the Lobos’ senior outside hitter led UNM’s offense, with middle blockers Victoria Spragg (six kills, four blocks) and Mariessa Carrasco (four kills, four blocks) also contributing.
The Lobos played through some inconsistency at the setter position, with Lise Rugland (23 assists) and Carson Heilborn (19) keying the offense to a .143 hitting percentage (48 kills, 27 errors, 147 attempts).
Defensively, New Mexico posted a strong effort, receiving a game-high 19 digs from libero Ashley Kelsey as it tallied 58 digs on the evening.
The Lobos also outblocked UNLV, recording eight stuffs to the Rebels’ six.
New Mexico opened the first set strongly, taking a 6-4 lead behind back-to-back House aces. However, UNLV would roll out a 13-3 run, capitalizing on a handful of Lobo miscues as it built a 17-9 lead.
UNM would rally late to cut the Rebels’ lead to 20-16, but UNLV posted a set-clinching 5-0 spurt to win 25-16.
House and Carrasco both logged three kills in the opening frame as the Lobos hit just .032. UNLV hit strongly in the opening stanza, converting a .379 clip.
The second set started evenly, with both teams fighting through 11 ties before the Lobos claimed a 15-14 lead at the media timeout. Sours then came alive late in the set, scoring five kills — including the set winner — as New Mexico closed out the frame on an 8-2 run.
The Lobos hit .324 in the set, with Sours notching an errorless seven kills on 13 attempts. Warren also started to click, posting five digs to anchor UNM’s defense.
It was New Mexico’s first set win since September 29 vs. San Jose State, snapping a streak of 13 straight set losses.
Coming out of intermission, the Lobos found themselves down 5-4 early, but turned the tide via a 5-0 run. UNLV would trim UNM’s lead to one point at 11-10, eventually knotting the set at 17 before taking a 21-19 lead. However, New Mexico reeled off a 5-1 run to get the first crack at set point at 24-23.
That would spark a fevered battle late, as both teams traded points. The Lobos would get six shots at set point, but UNLV managed to convert late to grab a hard-fought 32-30 win.
“Unfortunately, we had some really bad choices by our setters at the end of game three or I think we would have won that game,” Nelson said. “But we had four times in a row that were bad choices with the setting.”
The 32 points yielded by UNM are the second-most points ever allowed in a set to 25, while the 30 points the Lobos scored are tied for the third-most ever scored in a set to 25.
House paced New Mexico in the third set, registering seven kills. Warren was also productive in the set, notching six kills and six digs.
UNM came out in the fourth set well, claiming a 6-5 lead after three straight Rebel errors. However, UNLV would take an 11-8 advantage, and would shake off a set-tying 3-0 Lobo run as it ran its lead to 17-12.
A pair of late Sours kills and another UNLV mistake helped UNM come to within five points at 20-15, but the Rebels scored 11 of the last 14 points of the match to win set four 25-16.
New Mexico struggled to convert in the final set, hitting .000 with seven kills and seven errors. Conversely, UNLV translated its late success in set three into a .526 hitting percentage in set four.
The Lobos return to action Thursday as they head to Utah State for a 7 p.m. tilt in Logan, Utah. UNM then comes back to Albuquerque on Sunday for a nonconference showdown vs. Rio Grande Rival New Mexico State as it hosts its annual “Dig Pink” match benefiting the UNM Cancer Center.