Lobos Downed by Spartans in Four
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico Volleyball couldn’t fight its way out of an 0-2 hole even after a spirited effort in the final two sets of its Mountain West matchup with San Jose State (10-3, 5-3 MW) at the Johnson Center on Thursday, falling in four sets (15-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-27).
The Lobos (9-8, 2-5 MW) started to pick up momentum after holding the Spartans to .073 hitting in the third to stay alive — they led 20-17 in the fourth after Elizabeth Woods’ third service ace of the night but were outscored 10-5 the rest of the way to dash their hopes of coming all the way back.
UNM got double-digit kills from Lauryn Payne (15), Kialah Jefferson (10) and Naomi Chankoumi (10) and increased their hitting percentage in each successive set but fell just shy of forcing a fifth — the Lobos connected on 16 kills in both the third and fourth sets after only recording 17 in the first two combined, hitting .121 over the first two sets but improving to .196 over the next two.
Jefferson picked up a team-high 20 digs – also a season-high – for her team-leading 10th double-double of the season, with Falanika Danielson recording 16. Jefferson’s now finished with a double-double in three consecutive matches.
Elizabeth Woods served up three aces and Giselle Groe added a pair as the Lobos continued to improve at the service line — after only serving up two aces total across their matches against Air Force and Boise earlier in October, they’ve now served up 19 aces across 12 sets of action since (1.58 aces per set).
Liepa Lavickyte added seven more – a new career-high – on team-high .636 hitting and Jada Bouyer finished with five kills to round things out, with Sohila Wafeek and Madeleine Miller both producing 20 assists each while splitting time at setter.
UP NEXT / FOLLOW THE ACTION
The Lobos continue their homestand on Saturday against Fresno State (9-9, 5-2 MW) at the Johnson Center, with first serve set for 1 p.m. MT. Saturday’s match will be streamed via the MW Network at GoLobos.com/Watch, with live stats 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.