ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico Volleyball fought early in all three sets but couldn’t hold off Colorado State down the stretch as the Rams (8-5, 2-1 MW) put the Lobos (8-6, 0-3 MW) away in straight sets (23-25, 16-25, 20-25) Thursday night at the Johnson Center.
BY THE NUMBERS
Riccato gave the Lobos early energy with a team-high 13 kills – nine of which came in the opening set – with Lauryn Payne adding nine more to go with five from Addison France and three apiece from Solia Angilau and Madeleine Miller.
Miller finished with 27 of UNM’s 35 assists, with Camila Canedo and Addison France combining for seven more. Canedo finished with a team-leading 12 digs in total – her 11th match this season with double-digits – while Madison Blanco picked up seven.
Reagan Miller (1 BS / 1 BA), France (2 BA) and Angilau (2 BA) led a five-block effort from UNM, with Riccato adding a solo block and Miller coming up with a block assist.
SET ONE - NEW MEXICO 23, COLORADO STATE 25
UNM tied things up at 4-4 with Riccato’s second kill of the night but played from behind until a 4-0 run that gave the Lobos their first lead of the night at 11-10. Riccato made it 15-14 with her sixth kill of the opening set and Johannson followed with an ace after media timeout to put the Lobos up two, but the Rams responded with a late 3-0 run to go up 21-19 and force a UNM timeout. UNM managed to tie things up once more at 23-all thanks to Payne’s fourth kill but CSU scored two in a row to finish out the set.
The Lobos connected on 16 kills on match-high .312 hitting in the opening set, led by nine kills on 12 swings from Riccato and four more from Payne. Anna Johannson, Camila Canedo and Riccato combined for nine of UNM’s 12 digs.
SET TWO - NEW MEXICO 16, COLORADO STATE 25
Buoyed by eight early kills from four different Lobos, UNM led 13-11 before a 8-0 CSU run – their longest of the match – put the Rams up 19-13 coming out of Lobos timeout. UNM finally stopped the bleeding with Riccato’s 11th kill of the night and traded points briefly but couldn’t close the gap as CSU closed with another 4-0 run capped off by a service ace.
Payne led the way in the second set with three kills, with France and Riccato supplying two more apiece.
SET THREE - NEW MEXICO 20, COLORADO STATE 25
After an early run put UNM up 12-7 and forced the Rams to talk things over, the Lobos held steady until another big CSU run – this time a 6-0 run – retook the lead. UNM surged ahead once more after a dump kill from Madeleine Miller made it 19-18, but CSU scored six of the next eight to maintain some distance and seal the sweep.