ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Entering Thursday, the Lobos were 1-4 in five-set matches this season. But, on the back of one stellar senior, they made sure that trend wouldn’t continue.
Devanne Sours notched a career high-tying 22 kills and Julia Warren added a double-double of 10 kills and 14 digs to lead the University of New Mexico volleyball team to a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Fresno State Thursday night.
Behind their two senior pinhitters, the Lobos (13-12, 3-8 Mountain West) rallied in the final two sets against the Bulldogs (12-10, 3-8), securing their third win in their last four games by set scores of 25-18, 23-25, 18-25, 25-20, 15-10.
“I think today was mostly a team effort,” Sours said. “I think the team was really going for it. It felt good today in warmups and we needed a big comeback. I finally stepped up a little bit. It’s my senior year and I think it’s time.”
Sours’ gem of a performance paced New Mexico in Johnson Center, as the Lobos drew even with Fresno State and San José State in the Mountain West standings.
Her 22 kills are the most since she posted 22 against UTEP on September 17. She finished with a career-best .541 hitting percentage, with just two errors on 37 swings.
Warren also tallied a superb performance, giving the Lobos strong full-rotation play. She finished with a .361 attack percentage, with just one error on 26 attacks.
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| Devanne Sours |
“Devanne was player of the game, for sure,” 10th-year head coach Jeff Nelson said. “Her and Julia both, they both had big numbers and played really well, but Devanne was just unstoppable tonight offensively.”
Victoria Spragg (nine kills, .316 attack percentage) and Cassie House (seven kills) also provided the Lobos offense as the team hit .262 on the match with 52 kills and 18 errors on 130 attacks.
Lise Rugland, in her second straight start, also played well, logging 32 assists, while Carson Heilborn chipped in 14 assists.
“We’ve got such big hitters, we just need to let them take swings,” Nelson said of the setting. “I thought we did a better job at that tonight.”
Defensively, Warren (14 digs) and Ashley Kelsey (13) led the way, while the Lobos controlled the net with 8.5 blocks. Mariessa Carrasco’s four blocks were tops on the night, with Sours and Warren adding three each.
“Blocking turned the game around,” Nelson said. “We had 1.5 blocks going into set four and we finished the game with 8.5. We also were in front of them more, and did a better job of slowing them down.”
Overall, the New Mexico outhit Fresno State .262 to .162 as the Bulldogs posted 62 kills against 32 errors on 160 attempts. The Lobos also won the blocking battle, with 8.5 blocks to Fresno State’s three total blocks.
“I think everyone was working really hard in the back row and the front,” Sours said. “it was a really good back and forth effort both ways.”
New Mexico opened the match on fire, bolting to a 9-2 lead as Warren and Sours both scored two early kills. Fresno State would get to within five points at 11-6, but a 4-1 run effectively put the set out of reach with UNM leading 14-6.
The Bulldogs would creep to within five points a couple of more times late in the frame at 22-17 and 23-18, but Sours and House registered kills to give UNM a 25-18 win in set one.
Sours and Spragg were especially effective early, as both had four kills to power UNM to a .458 hitting percentage. New Mexico’s defense was also strong, limiting Fresno State to a .105 rate.
Set two was a much tighter affair, but both teams leaned on big swings of momentum as the Lobos led 9-5 before the Bulldogs knotted things up at 10. Both teams kept trading points and runs, including opposing 4-0 spurts, en route to a 20-20 deadlock.
However, a late 5-1 streak provided Fresno State a 24-21 lead, which survived two straight UNM points to give the visitors a 25-23 win in set two.
Sours continued to shine with four more errorless kills, with Spragg and Warren had three each.
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| Victoria Spragg |
Coming out of intermission, Fresno State switched gears, breaking open a relatively even 9-7 third set via an 11-1 run. Up 20-8, the Bulldogs were in control, weathering a late 9-2 Lobo run to win set three 25-18.
But, despite losing the set, New Mexico managed to regain a modicum of momentum with their late surge, which portended the finish in the match.
“The biggest difference was in game 3 when they got ahead 20-8,” Nelson said. “We just kept telling the team to just get momentum for the fourth and fifth games. We scored a lot of points, got back after being way down and I thought that was when we started to turn it around.”
And turn things around the Lobos did.
Despite an early 4-4 tie in set four, the Lobos seized a 10-6 lead, which they did not relinquish. New Mexico claimed leads of 16-11 and 21-16, and scored four of the final six points of the set for a 25-20 win.
UNM scored 16 of its points in set four off of Fresno State errors, stifling the Bulldogs into a .032 hitting percentage.
With the comeback in motion, the Lobos continued to rally in the fifth set, battling through a series of ties for an 8-7 lead at the set-five side change. Even after Fresno State went up 10-9, New Mexico didn’t yield, scoring the final six points of the set for a thrilling 15-10 win.
Sours was marvelous in the final stanza, scoring five faultless kills on nine attempts.
The Lobos returns to action Saturday as they host San José State in a rematch of a 3-2 Spartan win on September 29. First serve for UNM’s “Howl-o-Ween” event is slated for noon.