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Lobos Lose to Aztecs in Three on Friday Night

SAN DIEGO, Calif.— Sophomore outside hitter Kaitlynn Biassou finished with a team-high 12 kills and posted the team’s only service ace of the night, while freshman setter Kara Erfurth accounted for 21 of the team’s 26 assists and Alena Moldan turned in her fifth-straight match with double-digit digs with 12 as The University of New Mexico Lobos lost in three sets to San Diego State 25-13, 25-17, 25-21 on Friday night.

In the first set, the Lobos and Aztecs had three ties at two, three and seven with the Lobos climbing back from down 7-4, before SDSU went on a 9-0 run to open the set at 16-7. A Kali Wolf kill ended the run and UNM scored a second-straight point on an attack error which was the closest UNM got before SDSU stretched the gap to 11 at 23-12 and again at 24-13 before winning the set 25-13.

Biassou tallied three kills in the set to lead the Lobos as the team had just eight kills in the set.

SDSU got out to a 2-0 lead to which the Lobos answered with the next two points. There would be another tie at three before SDSU went ahead 9-4. The Lobos again fought back, benefiting from two Aztec errors, a Biassou block, a Biassou kill and a kill by Avital Jaloba, one of six on the night for the middle blocker.

There were two more ties at 10 and 11 before SDSU went back up 14-11 and stretched the margin to six at 20-14. Two San Diego State errors pulled the Lobos within four at 20-16 and again at 21-17 on a Biassou kill, but the Aztecs closed with the next four points to win the set, 25-17.

Biassou again led the Lobos with four kills in the set, tallying half of the team’s total.

UNM got out to the early lead in the third set, scoring the first three points on blocks by Emma Smith and Biassou, Smith and Erfurth and a Jaloba kill, forcing an early Aztec timeout. SDSU answered to tie the set at three and there would be ties at four, five, six, seven and eight before UNM went back up by three at 11-8. UNM led by as many as four at 13-9 before SDSU closed in and got within one at 13-12. The teams would exchange points until SDSU evened the score at 15.

There would be three more ties at 16, 18 and 19, at which point, SDSU went on a 3-0 run to go up 22-19 and would close with a 3-0 run to win 25-21. UNM got as close as two at 23-21 on a final Biassou kill, one of five in the final set for the sophomore co-captain.

UNM (2-3 MW) faces San Diego State (2-3) in the final match of the series on Saturday at noon MT.