LARAMIE, Wyo. — The University of New Mexico volleyball team dropped a four-set match to Wyoming Thursday evening, falling 18-25, 16-25, 25-19, 13-25 at the UniWyo Sports Complex in Laramie.
Despite a double-double of 12 kills and 10 digs by Julia Warren and 11 kills each by Cassie House and Devanne Sours, the Lobos (14-13, 4-9 Mountain West) saw their three-match win streak halted by the Cowgirls (16-9, 9-3).
“I was really disappointed,” 10th-year New Mexico head coach Jeff Nelson said. “We played at highs and lows. We got some really good performances in different games but we didn’t sustain it.”
Although the Lobos largely showed well during the match — including a dominant performance in a third-set win — they had trouble staying consistent.
After playing streakily in the opening two sets, UNM roared to life in the third set before lapsing back into inconsistent play in the fourth set.
“We battled to win game three and then just kind of went away,” Nelson said. “That was disappointing because I thought we looked really good in game three. I thought we were going to keep battling.”
Still, New Mexico received a handful of solid performances, including Warren’s team-high eighth double-double of the season. House and Sours also contributed offensively, along with Mariessa Carrasco (five errorless kills) and Lauren Twitty (four errorless kills).
Lise Rugland (32 assists) and Carson Heilborn (11) keyed UNM’s offense, but New Mexico hit .168 as a team, with 47 kills against 23 errors on 143 attempts.
Defensively, Ashley Kelsey turned in a 17-dig performance as she and Warren paced UNM to 51 total digs. Victoria Spragg, House and Carrasco all logged three blocks as UNM registered six stuffs.
Overall, Wyoming hit better (.285), while edging UNM in assists (49 to 45), blocks (nine to six) and digs (62 to 51).
Both teams came out relatively evenly, with a tie at 4-4. However, Wyoming started to build its lead after that early tie, going up 7-4 before rolling off a 10-2 run to take an 18-9 lead.
The Lobos would cut into the Cowgirls’ advantage late, reeling off a 7-1 spurt behind three Twitty kills to draw to within 21-17. But Wyoming would score four of the final five points of the frame to win 25-18.
House and Twitty each had four kills in set one, guiding UNM to a .229 hitting percentage. UW hit .324 in the set.
New Mexico responded well in the opening points of the second set, taking a 4-2 lead via two kills each by House and Warren. But a 6-1 streak by the Cowgirls gave the home team an 8-5 lead that it would not relinquish. Another 7-1 run would extend Wyoming’s lead to eight points at 17-9.
Sours and Spragg teamed up to post a 3-0 surge for the Lobos, but UW answered that with three straight points of its own to go up 23-14. A pair of Cowgirl attack errors made it 23-16 late, but Wyoming scored the final two points for a 25-16 win.
Warren had four kills to lead UNM in the set, but the Lobos had trouble cracking UW’s block, hitting .000 (11 kills against 11 errors) as the Cowgirls notched four blocks.
The Lobos came out of intermission with more fire, claiming 7-5 lead. Wyoming would come to within one point at 9-8, but New Mexico knocked out a 6-1 run fueled by two points by Sours and two UW errors to go up 15-9.
UNM continued to extend its lead, moving up 21-14 after a 3-0 run. Three late kills by Warren, Spragg and House would give the Lobos the set 25-18.
New Mexico did a much better job limiting Wyoming’s scoring, holding UW to multiple consecutive points three times — all just 2-0 runs.
Warren posted five kills to lead UNM in the third stanza, but House (four kills), Carrasco (four) and Sours (three) also came together to power UNM to a .696 hitting percentage (17 kills, 1 error, 23 attempts). It’s the Lobos highest clip in a single set since hitting .824 (14-0-17) vs. UNLV in 2010.
“I thought we did a good job getting back in game three and we really played good ball in game three,” Nelson said. “But we just couldn’t sustain it.”
Wyoming would open the fourth set with four straight points as it built a 13-5 lead. The Lobos would cut the margin six points at 14-8, but the Cowgirls followed that with six consecutive points to claim a 20-8 lead.
UNM would make it a 10-point affair twice at 20-10 and 22-12, but Wyoming’s advantage proved to be too much as it won the set 25-13.
Sours posted four more kills in the final frame, but UNM had just seven kills total en route to hitting .000.
The Lobos return to action Saturday as they head to Fort Collins, Colorado, for a 7 p.m. MT match vs. Colorado State at Moby Arena.