USAF ACADEMY, Colo. — Victoria Spragg posted a career high in hitting and Lauren Twitty nabbed her 13th double-double of the season, but it wasn’t enough as the University of New Mexico volleyball team dropped a 3-2 match to Air Force in its season finale.
Despite taking a 2-1 lead in the match, the Lobos (16-16 overall, 7-11 Mountain West) couldn’t hold off the resilient Falcons (13-18, 6-11) on Air Force’s senior night at the Cadet East Gym, falling by set scores of 18-25, 25-21, 25-26, 23-25, 11-15.
Closing their season with five matches in seven days, the Lobos fought in the final contest of the season, finishing 2017 with a 16-16 record.
It’s the 10th season UNM has finished at .500 or better under 11th-year head coach Jeff Nelson.
Spragg turned in one of the highlights for the Lobos on the evening, registering 13 kills — one off a career high — on a career-best .667 hitting percentage. She also tallied five blocks in the match.
Twitty added 11 kills and 13 digs for her 13th double-double of the season. She’s the first player to have that many performances in a single season since Hannah Johnson in 2015. Twitty also logged one ace and four blocks.
Senior Ashley Kelsey, playing in her final volleyball match as a Lobo, also notched a strong showing, tying the game high in digs with 14. She finishes her career with 1,529 digs, good for third all-time at New Mexico.
Elsewhere, Hailey Rubino logged nine kills and eight digs, with Mariessa Carrasco chipping in seven kills and six blocks and Carly Beddingfield eight kills and four blocks.
Sarah Lobo registered 42 assists for her sixth match of 40-plus assists in her last 11 matches, while also adding nine digs. Additionally, Mercedes Pacheco collected 10 digs, while Nicolette Clark recorded a career-best four digs. .
As a team, New Mexico matched Air Force in blocks (11 each) and digs (59 each). But the Falcons had 61 kills to UNM’s 49, and hit better (.172 to .158) despite seven more attack errors (33 to 26).
The match opened very evenly, with neither team taking more than a two-point lead before the media timeout at 15-14 UNM. However, Air Force posted a 7-0 run shortly after the timeout, moving ahead 22-16. The Lobos would get no closer than five points as the Falcons won 25-16.
Spragg had four kills on five swings in the first set, but New Mexico hit just .097 (9-6-31).
The second set proceeded similarly to the first, as both teams traded points and small leads. Like the opening stanza, UNM led 15-14 at the media timeout. But, New Mexico posted the key run coming out of the timeout, scoring four straight for a 21-17 advantage.
Air Force would trim the deficit to one point at 22-12, but the Lobos answered with the final three points of the set for a 25-21 win.
Rubino posted four kills in the set, with Twitty and Spragg scoring three each. UNM converted a much higher hitting percentage at .324 (14-3-34).
After a short four-minute intermission, New Mexico came out firing in the third frame, translating eight Air Force errors into a 12-0 run and a 12-2 lead. The Falcons would cut the margin down to seven at 14-7, but the Lobos effectively put the set out of reach with a 4-0 run.
The Academy came no closer than nine points the rest of the way as UNM won 25-16. New Mexico’s defense proved the difference in the set, holding the Falcons to a -.188 rate (6-12-32).
Air Force responded early in the fourth set with a 9-4 lead, but New Mexico answered with a 13-2 run to take an 18-13 lead. Then both side traded big runs, with the Falcons scoring seven straight to go up 20-18 and the Lobos scoring five in a row for a 23-20 lead. But AFA won the final five points of the set to win 25-23.
Like the rest of the match, the both teams played the fifth set evenly, but Air Force converted three straight points lead 10-9 to take an insurmountable 13-9 lead. The Lobos would come to within three twice, but the Falcons won the set 15-11.
With indoor volleyball now concluded, a portion of the indoor team will transition over to the beach volleyball team, with competition slated to begin in the spring.
Fans can follow @UNMLoboVB on Twitter and Instagram for information and updates on the team!