New Mexico volleyball countered after dropping the first set, but still fell 3-1 to UNLV in an intense match Tuesday night in the Johnson Center.
“They are second place in the conference, we had a chance to win,” UNM head coach Jeff Nelson said in an interview.
Although the Lobos (10-10, 1-6 Mountain West) suffered their sixth straight loss, falling in four sets, 25-16, 19-25, 32-30, 25-16, the team may have gained some momentum from its bout with the Rebels (17-2, 6-1 Mountain West) before beginning its road trip.
After losing 11 sets in a row, UNM finally broke through in game two. However, the team wasted six set points in the third set, and seemed to panic in the fourth.
“Overall we played two really good games tonight,” Nelson said.
UNM players showed positive attitudes in the match. Devanne Sours hit 15 kills and Cassie House contributed 13 kills for the Lobos, while Lise Rugland (23 assists) and Carson Heilborn (19 assists) shared the setting duties.
UNM libero Ashley Kelsey shined on the court with strong defense, logging a match-high 19 digs, while senior captain Julia Warren tallied 13 digs.
Sours could have been the team savior as she topped the team with 15 kills, even though she had only a .111 success rate.
She dominated the second set against the Rebels firing 7 kills without errors in the second set, and continued to play well in game three, but was saddled with attack errors in the fourth set.
“Devanne was really good in the game three,” Nelson said of the player. “She had a swing game.”
Sours’ unbalanced game could have been one of the reasons why the team was unable to close things out at the end of the third set.
“Unfortunately, we had some bad choices by our setters at the end of game three,” Nelson said about the setting in crucial moments.
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“You are yelling at your setter,” Nelson said of himself. “You are doing everything you can to try to get them.”
The coach said the team fought tooth and nail for the match. He called a heady timeout in game two after UNM failed to convert one game point, and the Lobos regrouped to finish the set after the break.
“The reason we did that is they had a jump server,” Nelson said of the timeout. “And generally a jump server will take a little off.”
The strategy did not continue paying off in game three. When the Lobos blew its first set point, Nelson called timeout again. In the second set point, the setter exposed the left side attack, and gave the Rebels the opening it needed.
“We got the pass we wanted, which is what we were worried about, and then we didn’t get the set we want,” Nelson said of the setting. “Again, that’s decision making.”
To make matters worse, Bree Hammel heated up for UNLV in set three and finished the match with a double-double, picking up a match-high 20 kills and 10 digs.
“She was big at the end of game three,” Nelson said of the UNLV standout. “In the fourth game, she took over.”
Hammel appeared to be unstoppable at the end of the third set, taking advantage of the middle blockers of UNM.
“The biggest place we got tonight was the middle blocking,” Nelson said. “They got so many kills, just using our middle blockers today.”
Nelson said the Lobos’ Achilles heel in set four was inadequate passing.
Despite the defeat, Lobos found the impetus to go on their trip to face Utah State this Thursday.
“I’m happy that I saw some fight tonight,” Nelson said. “I saw us play better volleyball. I think a lot of that is because of the confidence of having Julia (Warren) back there.”
Lobos will take on Utah State at 7 p.m. Thursday, and then return home for a non-conference match with New Mexico State on Sunday.
Bo Yu is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Bo_YuB.
