BOX SCORE (PDF)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The University of New Mexico seized the opportunity presented to them on Saturday afternoon, defeating the San José State Spartans in straight sets to move in to first place in the Mountain West.
With the 25-12, 25-19, 25-22 victory, the Lobos improved to 11-7 on the season and 5-1 in the Mountain West, which matches the best conference start since 2013. Earlier in the day, Fresno State lost its first conference match of the season to Boise State, resulting in the Lobos moving to atop of the standings with the higher winning percentage.
The result also marked the first time UNM has won in straight sets since Aug. 31, when the Lobos defeated Eastern Kentucky in the first match of the Lobo Classic.
It is also the eighth time all-time that UNM has defeated SJSU in three sets and the fifth time at home.
For the second time this week, Lauren Twitty tallied a double-double, registering 12 digs to go with a match-high 12 kills. Sabrina Bianco had a team-high 17 assists. Mercedes Pacheco had a career-high four service aces as well as a team-high 14 digs on the afternoon.
In her first start of the season, Nicolette Clark had five kills to tie her career high and had a team-high 1.5 blocks, with one solo and one assisted. Also starting for the first time this season was Jaclyn Inclan, who contributed 15 assists.
“I thought Mercedes had a great match, and Lauren definitely,” said head coach Jeff Nelson. “Four kills per game and four digs per game, that’s awesome.
” I like what the setters did- they did a good job of moving the ball around. Carly (Beddingfield) had an outstanding match on the right side. Nic (Nicolette Clark) and Carly both put up great numbers, with 12 kills and two errors on the right side- I am really happy with that. I thought we served well, and we knew that San José State was going to come after us and we handled that very well.”
The Lobos started the match in complete control, scoring the first six points behind a Twitty kill, a combined block by Mariessa Carrasco and Twitty, two Spartan attack errors and back-to-back Pacheco aces. SJSU ended the run with a kill, which broke up another run by the Lobos, another 6-0 run that stretched UNM’s advantage to 10 at 12-2. The lead would fluctuate between nine and 10 until a 3-0 run pushed the lead to 11 at 18-7, and the lead only grew from there. In the remaining six points prior to set point, the lead expanded between 11 and 12. A Clark solo block capped the set, giving UNM the win at 25-12 and its largest lead of the set at 13. Twitty had three kills in the set and Bianco and Inclan each had four assists to lead UNM. Morgan Schreckler, Bianco and Pacheco each had three digs, while Pacheco added two service aces to have the team highs in the categories. New Mexico had a .300 hitting percentage to open the match, compared to San José State, who was in the negative with -.048.
With the second set seeming to be an Achilles’ heel for UNM this season, the Lobos showed resolve in Saturday’s match, overcoming deficits and creating their own momentum to come out with the win. The second set started much closer, with a tie at five after UNM got out to a 3-1 lead. After a tie at six, the Spartans proceeded to take the lead at 9-8 behind a 4-0 run, but it was temporary as the Lobos tied the set at nine on a SJSU service error. The Spartans later pulled ahead 13-10, but the Lobos rallied to tie the set at 13 and took the 14-13 lead on the next point on a kill by Carly Beddingfield. From there, the Lobos and Spartans had ties at 14, 15 and 16 before the Lobos regained control of the set with a 4-0 run to lead 20-16. There was an exchange of points up to 22-19 UNM before the Lobos closed with the final three points on the way to the 25-19 win. Twitty added five kills in the second frame to lead the Lobos and Bianco and Inclan each had six assists, accounting for all 12 of the team’s assists. Pacheco served two more aces in the set and Bianco had one. Pacheco also led the team in digs in the frame with six, while Twitty had five. There were nine ties and five lead changes in the set, with UNM hitting .257 to SJSU’s .188.
“It was a challenge when the second game started,” said Nelson. “It was like, ‘This is your challenge now, we are getting opportunities, we can overcome it.’
“It was really nice to see us get through that. I thought we were more tentative in game three; in game two we went out to win it and I was excited to see that.”
Clark recorded back-to-back kills to open the third set as the Lobos got out to an early 5-2 lead. UNM held the three-point advantage until SJSU used a 3-0 run to tie the set at seven. There were four more ties at eight, nine, 10 and 11 before Clark recorded a kill followed by back-to-back Beddingfield kills to give the Lobos a two-point cushion at 13-11. SJSU tied the set at 13, but Twitty gave UNM the lead right back, and for good, with her 10th kill of the match. The Lobos led 15-13 at the media timeout and proceeded to double the lead with a 4-2 run. A block by Clark and Victoria Spragg followed by a Schreckler service ace expanded the margin to five at 21-16. San José State cut the lead down to three at 22-19 and again at 23-20 before Twitty gave New Mexico set and match point with a kill. The Spartans attempted one last push to comeback, fighting off match point three times, however a service error by the visitors gave the Lobos the final point that they needed to take the set by the score of 25-22. Clark, Twitty and Tai Bierria each had four kills in the final frame and Bianco recorded half of the team’s 14 assists. Pacheco and Twitty closed with five digs apiece and Spragg combined on two blocks, one with Clark and one with Bierria to lead at the net. Beddingfield and Carrasco also combined for a block.
With a four-match winning streak and a place at the top of the conference standings for the Lobos, UNM is headed on the road next week for both of its matches, traveling to San Diego State on Oct. 11 and Fresno State on Oct. 13.
“I think that we have grown as a group,” assessed Nelson. “They are playing better, pulling together better, and staying in the moment much better. We talk about that all the time. I think today I was worried they all knew that Fresno State lost- they were all paying attention, watching in the locker room- and I was worried about how they would handle it. I didn’t want them to look ahead. They handled it great so I’m hoping that’s how we will handle it moving forward. Just play good ball and be excited about what we are doing.”