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New Mexico Falls to Missouri State and Nebraska at Husker Invite

MSU BOX SCORE: BOX SCORE (PDF) | NEBRASKA BOX SCORE: BOX SCORE (PDF)

LINCOLN, Neb.—   New Mexico’s first day of the Husker Invite was a day of highs and lows. The high came in the form of the evening match as the Lobos competed with the No. 4 team in the country, taking the opening set against the defending champions. It came in the form of the third set against the Huskers, cutting into a deficit to make it a one-point game on two occasions before dropping the close set. It came in the opening set in the morning match against Missouri State, when New Mexico stormed out to an early lead and seemed to hold momentum.  The lows were what decided the two matches, with UNM unable to hold its first set lead against MSU and dropping the set and thereafter the match, and later that day against NU in sets two and four, where the Lobos couldn’t avoid the errors and hitting in the negatives, unable to keep up point-for-point with the Huskers in lopsided loses.

MATCH TWO:

Before an audience of 8043, the New Mexico Lobos pushed the No. 4 team in the country to the brink in two sets, breaking through in the opening set with a 25-23 victory, before ultimately falling in four sets (23-25, 25-12, 25-20, 25-11) on Friday evening.

Junior Tai Bierria had a match-high 16 kills in the setback, while Jaclyn Inclan had 17 assists, Morgan Schreckler had 11 digs and Lauren Twitty had one solo block and an assisted block for team highs.

The Lobos held close in the first set with five, one-point leads at 2-1, 3-2, 4-3, 5-4 and 6-5, which eventually grew to two at 7-5 after a Sabrina Bianco ace and then three at 10-7 on a Bierria kill. The Lobos lead grew to four at 13-9 after kills by Bierria and Victoria Spragg, and again at 14-10 on another Twitty kill.  The Huskers proceeded to score the next three points to cut the lead to one at 14-13 and again at 15-14, but each time, the Lobos responded with the next point to maintain the lead.  The set would have a tie at 16 before Nebraska built a 19-16 edge.  New Mexico rallied to tie the set at 19 with two kills from Bierria and one from Carly Beddingfield. Out of a Nebraska timeout, the Huskers scored the next two points to build a 21-19 lead, but a net violation allowed the Lobos to cut the margin in half. A Twitty block followed by a Spragg and Twitty block gave the Lobos a 23-22 late set lead. There was a final tie at 23 before the Lobos scored the final two points of the set on back-to-back kills by Twitty to give the Lobos a 25-23 opening set victory. New Mexico outhit Nebraska .270 to .097 in the set behind six kills from Twitty. As a team, the Lobos had 17 kills to just nine for the Huskers. When it came to digs, the Lobos had a 13-8 advantage, and 15-9 in assists.

It was a tale of two sets in the second set as although the Lobos held close early on, the Huskers ultimately ran away with the set. The Lobos held early leads at 1-0, 3-2 and 4-3, which would be the only leads the Lobos would have in the frame. Nebraska built a four-point lead at 9-5 after New Mexico got within one at 6-5, however an 8-2 run pushed the Lobos’ deficit to 10 at 17-7. The Lobos couldn’t put together any runs to cut into the lead and fell 25-12 in the set.  Bierria added three kills in the frame and Bianco had two assists, but as a whole, UNM struggled hitting in the negatives in the set.

Husker service errors kept the Lobos in the third set, with the home team recording six errors in the set, creating another close set between the two teams. In the third game, a Spragg kill gave the Lobos an early 2-1 lead and five points later back-to-back points by a Bierria kill and a Husker attack error gave the Lobos a 5-4 lead. The New Mexico lead expanded to two at 7-5 and again at 8-6 with kills by Spragg and Twitty leading the charge. The Huskers tied the set at eight before a kill gave them the 9-8 advantage. A Mariessa Carrasco kill evened the set at nine, but NU responded with two-straight points to take an 11-9 lead. A long serve kept the Lobos close within one at 11-10, but NU scored the next two points to expand its advantage three at 13-10.  At the media timeout, the Lobos trailed 15-12, which would increase to four at 18-14. UNM narrowed the gap by two at 19-17 using a 3-1 run and again at 20-18 on Bierria kills paired with Husker service errors. An attack error by Nebraska made it 20-19 and a service error again cut the deficit to one at 21-20, but Nebraska was able to pull away with the final four points to take the set, 25-20, and the 2-1 lead in the match. Bierria ended the set with four kills, while Spragg had three. Inclan and Bianco each had five assists and Twitty and Schreckler each had three digs to lead the Lobos in their respective categories.

Bierria had both of the Lobos first two points in the set as the Huskers got out to an early 6-2 lead, causing an early Lobos timeout. Nebraska scored the first two points out of the timeout to expand its lead to six at 8-2. Another Bierria kill made it 8-3 and a Twitty kill made it 10-4, but the Huskers’ lead would continue to grow, reaching as much as 14 as NU held control from the onset to take the set 25-11 and the match, 3-1. Bierria closed the match with four kills in the final set, Inclan had four assists and Twitty had four digs and two kills for the Lobos.

UNM closes out the Husker Invite with a final match tomorrow against Central Michigan at 10:30 a.m. MT.

MATCH ONE:
The New Mexico Lobos had the momentum early on in the opening match of the Husker Invite on Friday morning, but after dropping a late lead in the opening set, they were unable to recover before losing the match in straight sets at the hands of the Missouri State Bears (21-25, 19-25, 23-25).

Tai Bierria led the Lobos in kills with a match-high 10, with Sabrina Bianco having a team-high 14 assists, Morgan Schreckler with a team-high 12 digs and Lauren Twitty with two service aces. Mariessa Carrasco had a solo block and two assisted blocks for New Mexico, while Victoria Spragg had a solo block and an assisted block and Carly Beddingfield had two assisted blocks.

New Mexico lost its lead late in the first set to drop the opening set by the score of 25-21. The Lobos started the first set with an early 7-3 lead behind kills from Twitty, Spragg, Carrasco and Bianco, as well as a block by Beddingfield and Carrasco. The Bears cut the lead to one at 7-6, but Bierria responded with back-to-back kills to push the lead back to three. Missouri State rallied back to tie the set at 10, however, a net violation and a Twitty kill and ace helped New Mexico regain the three-point cushion at 14-11. The Lobos were able to stretch the three-point advantage to four at 18-14 with two kills by Bierria combined with a kill from Yasmin Tan. A 4-0 run by Missouri State tied the set late at 18, however, Twitty and Bierria tallied consecutive kills to give the Lobos the lead at 20-18. There was a tie at 20 before Missouri State took its first lead of the set at 21-20 off of a kill and would hold onto the lead for the remainder of the set. New Mexico scored a final point in the set before dropping the first set, 25-21. Bierria led the team with six kills, while Inclan had seven assists and eight digs.

Set two had the Lobos getting out to another early lead at 4-2 after a Twitty ace, a Carrasco kill and two Beddingfield kills, but the Bears answered with a run to take the 6-5 lead.  The Lobos’ deficit grew to five at 11-6, to which UNM chipped away at to cut it to 12-11 before the Bears used a 5-1 run to push their lead back to five at 17-12. UNM couldn’t get any closer than 20-17 before dropping the set, 25-19. The Lobos struggled in the set, only hitting .026.

Like in the first set where New Mexico had a late lead, the Lobos held a late lead at 21-19 in the third set and were unable to hold onto it en route to the 25-23 setback, the closest set in the match. Bianco scored the first two points of the set for the Lobos with a kill followed by an ace to give UNM a 2-1 lead. After the Bears led 5-2, the Lobos scored the next two points on a Bierria kill and Missouri State service error to make it a one-point game. From there, the Bears recorded five of the next six points to take control at 10-5. A 7-2 run by New Mexico tied the set at 12 with blocks by Spragg and Carrasco as well as two kills by Spragg and a kill by Bierria. Missouri State recorded the next four points to regain the lead at 16-12, which wouldn’t last long as the Lobos used a 4-0 run of their own with kills from Bierria, Carrasco and Beddingfield to even the set again at 16. There would be another tie at 18, but New Mexico claimed its first lead of the set since leading 2-1 early, off of a 3-1 run to go ahead 21-19. After MSU tied the set at 21, UNM and MSU exchanged 2-0 runs to create a final tie at 23. Missouri State closed the match with the final two points of the set to take the 25-23 set win and the 3-0 match win.