ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In their final home match of their collegiate volleyball careers, the Lobos seniors made sure they would go out with a win.
Devanne Sours and Julia Warren led the way with a pair of double-digit kills performances and Cassie House contributed hitting, serving and blocking as the University of New Mexico volleyball team swept San Diego State in straight sets Saturday afternoon for Senior Day.
Behind their four dynamic senior outside hitter, which included Marisa Doran, the Lobos (16-15, 6-11 Mountain West) topped the Aztecs (16-15, 8-9 MW) 25-18, 25-19, 25-23 in Johnson Center, ensuring they’ll finish with at least a .500 record this season.
New Mexico closes its season Tuesday at UNLV.
“We wanted to close this out, go to UNLV and get another win and finish on a really high note,” 10th-year New Mexico head coach Jeff Nelson said. “This was a great week for us. We played two really good teams and went 6-0 in games and it’s been a while since we’ve done that. I’m really excited with what they’re doing.”
After defeating Nevada in straight sets on Wednesday, the Lobos posted back-to-back sweeps for the first time since last November, when they won 3-0 at Fresno State before winning 3-0 vs. Utah State on last year’s Senior Night.
And, like in Wednesday’s match, the Lobos’ seniors the way vs. the Aztecs.
Sours posted a game-high 14 kills to move just 17 kills from reaching 1,000 in her career, while Warren notched 12 kills to help pace the Lobos to a .223 hitting percentage (40 kills, 17 errors, 103 attempts).
House chipped in six kills, two aces, five digs and three blocks and moved up to seventh in program history in career kills with 1,135 kills.
Middle blockers Mariessa Carrasco and Victoria Spragg also contributed offensively, as both posted three kills. Spragg also registered five blocks — including two solos — as the Lobos out-blocked the Aztecs 7-6.
Lise Rugland keyed the team’s offense with 30 assists.
On the defensive side, Ashley Kelsey continued her torrid play, logging 13 digs. She now has the third-best single-season digs total in program history with 501 digs.
Warren (eight digs), Rugland (seven), Mercedes Pacheco (six) and Doran (two) also helped out on the defensive end as the Lobos dominated with 49 digs to SDSU’s 33.
Overall, New Mexico had more kills (40 to 35), assists (35 to 34) and aces (six to two) than the Aztecs.
The Lobos opened the match on a roll, surging to a 12-5 lead behind House’s two aces. San Diego State would cut the lead to five points at 13-8, but New Mexico scored three straight to open up a 20-11 lead.
UNM would then get its first crack at set point at 24-14, and staved off a 4-0 Aztec run to win 25-18 on a nifty Rugland dump set.
Warren and Sours both had four kills in the frame as the Lobos outhit SDSU .241 to .200.
Set two opened up similarly as New Mexico took an 8-5 lead via multiple points from House and Warren. However, San Diego State would respond with a 6-1 run to claim an 11-9 lead.
After taking a timeout, the Lobos regrouped, reeling off a 7-3 run behind their seniors to take the lead at 17-15. SDSU would make it a one-point affair at 18-17, but UNM posted two separate 3-0 runs to win the frame 25-19.
House and Warren both tallied four kills in the set, but the Lobos’ defense — anchored by Kelsey (seven digs) and Spragg (block solo) — limited the Aztecs to a .056 hitting percentage.
After intermission, New Mexico continued to play well, racing to an early 8-2 lead. San Diego State would get to within two points at 12-10, but Warren and House powered the Lobos to a five-point advantage at 19-14.
Both team then traded 4-0 runs, with the Aztecs cutting the Lobos’ margin to 20-19 before New Mexico went up 24-19. SDSU tacked on one more 4-0 spurt to make it 24-23 and force a UNM timeout, but Sours sealed the deal on the next point, winning the set 25-23.
“Jeff was on us and it was on our shoulders,” Sours said about that timeout. “We knew that we really wanted to finish with a bang, and we we’re trying a little too hard. We just realized that we needed to relax and play like we knew how we could.”
Sours posted seven kills in the set, with Warren logging another four. The Lobos hit .257 in the final set, and received three total blocks.
New Mexico closed out its season on Tuesday as it heads to Las Vegas to take on UNLV at 7 p.m. MT.