Lobos' Comeback Falls Short in Logan
LOGAN, UTAH – New Mexico Volleyball forced a fourth with a gritty 31-29 win in the third set of its Mountain West road matchup with Utah State (6-10, 3-3 MW) at the Estes Center on Thursday but came up just short of going to five for the fifth time this season after the Aggies closed out with a 7-0 run to retake the lead late and win in four (24-26, 15-25, 31-29, 23-25).
The Lobos (9-6, 2-3 MW) return to the court Saturday for a road matchup with Nevada (9-8, 2-3 MW) in Reno, with first serve set for 1 p.m. MT.
Kialah Jefferson recorded her eighth double-double of the season while finishing with team-highs of 13 kills and 11 digs, with Lauryn Payne adding 12 more and Madeleine Miller putting away a career-high eight kills while producing 31 of UNM’s 41 assists.
Elizabeth Woods led UNM with a career-high 11 block assists for five total blocks while adding six more kills, with Liepa Lavickyte coming up with 4.5 total blocks (1 BS, 7 BA) while adding three more kills. Falanika Danielson served up three of UNM’s six aces while picking up five digs and dishing three assists, with Woods, Madison Blanco and Miller all serving up an ace each as well. Blanco finished with the second-most digs (9), with Miller picking up six more.
UNM HIGHLIGHTS
SET ONE: NEW MEXICO 24, UTAH STATE 26
UNM raced to an early 12-8 lead thanks to six kills from six different Lobos and a pair of back-to-back service aces from Danielson that forced the Aggies into timeout. But USU responded in kind after the break, outsourcing the Lobos 7-3 over the next 10 points to tie things up at 15-all and retaking the lead on a service ace from Kaylie Kofe that made it 17-16. Payne provided a quick response with a kill off the serve to tie things up again, but the Aggies kept coming, scoring four of the next five and threatening to take control for good with a three-point advantage.
The Lobos punched back late regardless – ripping off a 4-1 run of their own to tie it up again at 22-all before tying it again at 23 with Payne’s third kill before a huge solo block from Lavickyte kept them alive at 24-all – but couldn’t retake the lead for good one more time after another USU kill and a bad set ended it at 26-24.
SET TWO: NEW MEXICO 15, UTAH STATE 25
After Jefferson got UNM out of a 4-2 deficit with back-to-back kills – her fourth and fifth of the night – the Lobos hung tight with the Aggies, eventually taking their first lead after Woods and Bouyer teamed up for back-to-back blocks on USU’s Mehmedovic,Adna to make it 10-9. But once again, Utah State came back firing, scoring seven in a row to burn both of UNM’s timeouts and take control – UNM only scored five points to the Aggies’ 16 through the rest of the set after taking their first lead, finishing with eight kills on match-low -.038 hitting
SET THREE: NEW MEXICO 31, UTAH STATE 29
The Lobos reasserted themselves with some physical play quickly in the third, with a block assist and pair of hard-struck kills from Woods and Jefferson providing an early 3-2 lead. After Utah State generated three errors in succession to extend the Lobos’ lead to 10-7, Jefferson put away her ninth and 10th kills to help the Lobos head into media timeout up 15-12.
Woods served up an ace coming out of the break and Payne followed with her seventh kill to make it 17-12, but the Aggies fought hard to avoid a fourth – they rattled off four in a row with three kills and an ace to get back within one at 17-16 and force the Lobos into a timeout, threatening to undo their early work just like in the opening set. They eventually retook the lead at 21-20 with another 4-1 run after Lavickyte put UNM back up two with her second kill.
UNM retook the lead three more times thanks to two more kills from Jefferson and another from Payne that made it 24-23 for the Lobos’ first set point of the night, but the Aggies responded with a kill and an ace in succession to retake set point. Another kill from Payne followed by a block from Lavickyte and Naomi Chankoumi gave UNM another opportunity to finish things off at 26-25, but it wasn’t until a kill from Woods that made it 29-all was followed by a pair of USU attack errors to force a fourth.
SET FOUR: NEW MEXICO 23, UTAH STATE 25
The Lobos rode the momentum of the prior set into the fourth, bent on forcing a fifth for the fifth time this season – they built a 9-5 lead after an early 3-0 run and stretched it to as much as seven before Utah State started to turn things around.
After Blanco’s ace made it 21-14, the Aggies scored the next four before Madeleine Miller and Woods teamed up twice in a row to siphen the run – first on a block before Woods assisted Miller on her eighth kill of the night to make it 23-18. Utah State still had gas in the tank though – the Aggies ripped off a 7-0 run that included three kills, two blocks and an ace to steal the set late and dash the Lobos’ hopes of a reverse sweep.
UP NEXT
Saturday’s MW matchup at Nevada (Oct. 12) is set to get underway at 1 p.m. MT. The match will be streamed via the MW Network, with live stats, streaming and all other matchday essentials available at GoLobos.com/FollowVB. Follow @UNMLoboVB on IG, X and Facebook for match coverage, promotional information, updates, behind-the-scenes content and more.