ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico volleyball team dropped a four-set match to Boise State Thursday evening in Johnson Center, falling by set scores of 21-25, 25-8, 25-12, 25-15.
Playing their first home match during Mountain West play — and just fourth overall this season — the Lobos (9-6 overall, 1-2 MW) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the contest, but couldn’t hold off the Broncos (10-5, 3-0).
“We’re young and our leadership was learning, but it wasn’t there tonight,” UNM head coach Jeff Nelson said. “Our team has to play with a little better work ethic than they did tonight and a little bit more feistiness.”
Senior Ashley Kelsey finished with a team-high 15 digs for New Mexico, while the Lobos received eight kills from both sophomore Lauren Twitty and redshirt junior Mariessa Carrasco.
Redshirt junior Victoria Spragg and freshman Yasmin Tan both added five kills each for New Mexico’s offense, which finished with a negative .021 hitting percentage (28 kills, 31 errors, 145 attempts).
Junior Carson Heilborn posted 23 assists and six digs for UNM, with Twitty (eight digs), freshman Hailey Rubino (seven) and junior Mercedes Pacheco (six) also contributing to the Lobos’ defense.
Boise State posted more kills (54 to 21), blocks (17 to 4) and digs (66 to 46), while the Lobos finished with 31 attack errors to the Broncos’ 21.
“We’ve got to have more consistency and more leadership,” Nelson said. “…I think that tonight was a good lesson for them.”
After falling behind 9-6 in the first set, New Mexico tied the score at 13 before scoring the next three points to make it 16-13. The set remained close as the Lobos took a 23-21 lead before winning the set on a long rally and a Carrasco kill.
Twitty and Carrasco each recorded four kills in the set, but the Lobos recorded five attack errors to Boise State’s 12 in the first frame. UNM hit .114 (9-5-35) in the set compared to BSU’s .042 (14-12-48).
“I think both teams made a lot of errors in set one,” Nelson said. “We just kind of grinded it out and pulled ahead with a little bit better hitting percentage.”
The second set was much more uneven, as the Broncos took an early 6-3 lead only to extend it to 13-5. The Lobos called a timeout but it wasn’t enough to regroup as Boise State went on to take the frame 25-8. New Mexico struggled offensively, hitting -.129 to the Broncos’ .500, while recording nine errors to Boise State’s one.
Heilborn recorded four assists and Carrasco added two more kills, but it wasn’t enough to claim the set.
Similarly to the second frame, the Broncos jumped ahead 8-1 to open the third set. But the Lobos couldn’t close the gap to less than six points, eventually falling 25-12.
New Mexico came out strongly in the fourth set to go ahead 5-2, but Boise State scored the next eight to claim a 10-5 lead. After scoring the following two points to make the score 10-7, UNM was again unable to generate any momentum and lost the set 25-15.
The Lobos return to action Saturday at noon as they host Utah State for their annual Whiteout match. The first 500 fans to enter Johnson Center will receive a free Whiteout shirt.
Fans can follow @UNMLoboVB on Twitter and Instagram for information and updates on the team!