Staff Report

New Mexico head coach Jeff Nelson said immaturity is still a factor after the volleyball team’s only loss of the SMU Invite tournament.

Following a five-game winning streak, the New Mexico volleyball team couldn’t capitalize in a nail-biting affair for the final match of the Invite.

“We talk about maturity. We still have to mature,” Nelson said in a release. “We have to do the little things better and stick to our game plan better.”

UNM won the first match on Friday against Charleston (25-23, 25-15, 19-25, 25-17). Friday night, after the victory over Charleston (8-7), the Lobos swept Houston Baptist (5-9) for New Mexico’s second win of the day (25-19, 25-19, 25-9).

On Saturday, UNM fell behind early in the match against SMU (11-1) and never managed to overcome the deficit. New Mexico dropped the first set 19-25, trailing for the first time in the tournament. While Nelson said that the second set was better, his squad squandered a lead, falling 23-25.

However, UNM showed poise by climbing back into the game and winning the next two matches 25-23 and 27-25, respectively.

In the final set, New Mexico kept in close contention, but finally dropped the set and the match 15-13. SMU snapped UNM’s streak and continued its own 11-game win streak.

The sports desk can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLoboSports.