ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— After taking control of the opening set from start to set point, and dropping the second set, the University of New Mexico volleyball team turned a close third set into a dominating fourth-set victory to claim the 25-14, 19-25, 25-23, 25-10 four-set match win on Wednesday night.
With the win, the Lobos moved to 8-7 overall and 2-1 in the Mountain West as well as snap UNLV’s eight-match win streak. .
The victory marked head coach Jeff Nelson’s 500th-career win as a Division I coach, taking into account both beach and indoor.
Lauren Twitty led the Lobos with 15 kills in the match, hitting .333, while Sabrina Bianco and Jaclyn Inclan tallied 22 and 21 assists, respectively. Mercedes Pacheco had a team-high 17 digs and Victoria Spragg had two solo blocks and three assisted blocks to anchor the defense. Twitty also had a team-high two service aces on the night.
The Lobos came out with the momentum, taking the lead early on and not relinquishing it en route to the 25-14 opening set win. Twitty started off the match with a kill and an ace, which helped the Lobos get out to an early 3-0 lead. A 6-4 run by the Lobos expanded the lead to five at 9-4, which stretched to seven with a 5-3 run that made it 14-7. UNLV was able to get two points back to cut the margin to five, however, UNM’s lead proceeded to fluctuate between six and seven for the next six points, and the Rebels couldn’t get any closer. New Mexico’s lead grew to its largest lead to that point of 10 at 23-13 on a Twitty kill and again at 24-14 on another kill by Twitty. An attack error by the Rebels gave the Lobos the 25-14 opening set victory. Twitty and Tai Bierria had three kills apiece, with Inclan having six assists and Pacheco having six digs to lead the team. Twitty and Inclan each had a service ace and Twitty and Mariessa Carrasco each had an assisted block in the set. UNM outhit UNLV .308 to .053.
In the second set, UNLV forced an early timeout by UNM after scoring the first three points. The timeout refocused the Lobos, who proceeded to score the next two points on a service error and a Carly Beddingfield kill. A Spragg kill later tied the set at five and an UNLV error allowed UNM to tie the set again at six, followed by a net violation which gave the Lobos their first lead at 7-6. There would be a tie at eight, nine and 10 before UNLV used a 4-1 run to take a 14-11 lead. From there, the Lobos were not able to make a run to get back in the set, dropping the set 25-19. The Lobos got as close as 24-19 down the stretch, but a Rebel kill evened the match at one set apiece. Spragg led the team with three kills in the set, while Inclan added five assists and Pacheco had four more digs. Spragg and Nicolette Clark combined for the only block for the Lobos in the set.
The third set saw 17 ties and five lead changes, as the Lobos and Rebels exchanged points early on before UNM registered a string of points to grab an 8-6 lead. UNLV went on a 3-0 run to gain the 9-8 advantage, but a kill by Twitty evened the set again at nine and followed it up with a service ace to give the lead back to the home team. The Lobos were able to pull ahead 13-11 before UNLV used a 4-1 run to take the 15-14 lead going into the media timeout. There were ties at 15 and 16 before the Rebels were able to score consecutive points to gain a two-point margin at 18-16. UNM responded with a 4-2 run to tie the set again at 20, and Clark followed that up with her fourth kill of the match to give the Lobos their first lead since it was 13-12 at 21-20. There was another tie at 21, but Spragg answered with a kill to give the Lobos back the lead, followed by a Twitty kill to extend the advantage to two at 23-21. UNLV evened the set for a final tie at 23, but UNM closed the set with consecutive kills by Twitty to give the Lobos the 25-23 win.
UNM’s momentum carried over into the fourth set, with the Lobos racing out to a 7-1 advantage. The set would continue to go in favor of UNM to the tune of an eight-point margin at 14-6, and from there, the Lobos closed the match on an 11-4 run, with the largest margin being 13 at 20-7. Back-to-back kills by Bierria gave the Lobos match point and the clinching point to secure the 25-10 set victory and the 3-1 match win. The Lobos hit .500 in the final frame, while the Rebels were in the negative with -.097. Twitty and Bierria had four kills, with Twitty hitting .800 (4-0-5) and Bierria hitting .600 (4-1-5). Spragg was a force at the net, collecting two back-to-back solo blocks and two assisted blocks, while Bierria had one solo and one assisted. The Lobos closed the match with seven team blocks, three solo and eight assisted, while the Rebels had zero.
Up next for New Mexico is a trip to Air Force, with first serve scheduled for Sunday at noon.