UNM's Winning Streak Snapped at SDSU
BOX SCORE (PDF)
SAN DIEGO — The University of New Mexico volleyball team fell to San Diego State on Thursday night in four sets, bringing its winning streak to an end at four matches.
The 21-25, 22-25, 25-21,15-25 loss drops UNM to 11-8 on the season and 5-2 in the Mountain West.
Lauren Twitty registered her ninth double-double of the season with 12 kills and 11 digs and Tai Bierria had a team-high 14 kills in the setback.
Mercedes Pacheco had a match-high 13 digs to join Twitty as the only two Lobos with double-digit digs and had the only service ace on the night for UNM.
Sabrina Bianco had 23 assists in the match, accounting for over half of the team’s 43. At the net, Victoria Spragg and Mariessa Carrasco each had one solo and three assisted blocks. Carly Beddingfield also had a solo block to go with an assisted block and Nicolette Clark had three assisted blocks.
The Lobos had an opportunity to take the opening set after gaining the early lead and later fighting back to tie the set at 21, but ultimately was unable to finish, dropping the set 25-21.UNM got out to an early 4-1 lead behind kills from Carrasco and Twitty, as well as a Clark and Spragg assisted block and a Carrasco solo block. The Aztecs tied the set at seven after a 3-0 run and proceeded to take the lead on the next point. SDSU’s lead grew to 12-7 before Bierria recorded her first kill of the match to end the 8-0 run. The Lobos used an 11-6 run to turn a 15-10 deficit into a tied set at 21, including a late 3-0 run on kills from Bierria and Clark. However, SDSU scored the next four points to take the first set, 25-21. Bierria led the Lobos with four kills, with Bianco assisting on seven of the team’s 10 assists in the set. Twitty had a team-high five digs and Carrasco had a solo block to lead the defense.
In the second set, the Aztecs scored the first three points of the set before the Lobos strung together consecutive points behind a Twitty kill and Pacheco ace. A 4-0 Aztec run pushed their lead to six at 11-5, which turned into 13-7. Twitty registered three-straight kills to bring the Lobos within two at 13-11, leading to a SDSU timeout. The Lobos’ deficit got back to three at 17-14 before a 3-1 run by UNM got the Lobos within one at 18-17. The Lobos would get within one at 19-18, 20-19 and later fought back with a late 3-0 run on back-to-back Twitty kills and a Carrasco and Beddingfield block to make it 23-22, but the Lobos couldn’t ever get the needed point to tie the set before SDSU took the set 25-22. Twitty added a game-high six kills in the set with Bierria contributing four. Bianco and Jaclyn Inclan each had six assists and Pacheco led with a game-high seven digs. UNM actually outhit SDSU in the set, .282 to .250, but SDSU had three more total blocks in the set than UNM at five to two. Clark and Spragg combined for a block to go along with Carrasco and Beddingfield’s.
UNM finally broke through in the third set, taking control of the set from the first point to set point. The third set started with the Lobos scoring the first three points of the set on a kill by Carrasco and two Aztec errors. The lead would grow to six at 9-3 on another 3-0 run, spurred by two blocks, and then eight at 13-5 after a third 3-0 run. SDSU used a 4-0 run to cut into the lead at 14-9, and used another 3-0 run that made it 15-11, but UNM answered with the next two points to push the lead back to six. A late 3-0 run by the Aztecs cut the margin to three at 20-17, but that was as close as the Aztecs would get before Twitty registered the final point on a kill in the 25-21 set win. Bierria led the Lobos with four of the team’s 11 kills in the set, while Carrasco hit .750 on three kills off four attempts. Bianco had half of the team’s 10 assists in the frame and Twitty and Pacheco each had three digs. Spragg led at the net with one solo and one assisted block, teaming up with Bierria on the stop to give the Lobos set point at 24-20.
UNM couldn’t maintain the momentum into the fourth set, dropping the set 25-15. SDSU stormed out to an early 5-1 lead and UNM couldn’t find a way to stop the lead from growing. A 4-0 run in the middle of the set stretched SDSU’s lead from 7-5 to 11-5 after UNM was able to cut the deficit in half on a Yasmin Tan kill that made it 7-5 SDSU. SDSU’s lead went from seven at 15-8 to 20-8 and used a 3-0 to build a 14-point lead at 23-9. The Lobos put together a 6-0 run late in the set to make it 23-15, but the Aztecs capped off the match with the final two points to take the 25-15 set win and the match. UNM hit a match-low .080 in the final set, with Bierria and Beddingfield each having two kills. Bianco finished the match with five more assists and four of the team’s nine digs to lead in both categories. UNM didn’t record a single block in the set.
The Lobos’ road trip continues with a Saturday match against Fresno State, scheduled for 2 p.m. MT. Fresno State defeated UNLV in four sets on Thursday night to move ahead of New Mexico in the standings.