The Lobos ended their eight-game losing streak in the Mountain West conference, sweeping Air Force 3-0 on Saturday afternoon.
New Mexico (12-12, 2-8 Mountain West) showed some courage and earned a split during the week, dominating Air Force (9-14, 0-10) in a 25-17, 29-27, 25-19 sweep after falling to Boise State on Thursday evening.
“It was nice to get a win on the road,” New Mexico head coach Jeff Nelson said.
The Lobos opened the week with confidence after notching their first win in nearly a month by beating New Mexico State, but they still wanted to shake a seven-game losing skid in conference play.
The streak extended to eight matches after the Lobos lost their first road match 3-0 to Boise State (17-6, 8-2).
“It was a disappointing match after really pulling together on (last) Sunday,” Nelson said on Thursday.
UNM displayed some strong defense against BSU, completing 46 digs and eight blocks. However, it was not enough to stop BSU from their sweeping streak.
The Broncos outhit the Lobos with 48 kills on 46 assists, while the Lobos had 31 kills on 31 assists. Boise State also out-performed in hitting percentage, finishing .295 compared to .158 for UNM.
“We didn’t pull together,” Nelson said. “We need to get more consistent performances in many positions.”
New Mexico tied with Boise State at 13-13 in game one, and Boise State exerted itself to go ahead 16-13 and eventually closed it out 25-20.
In game two, UNM had a good start and held a lead at 13-11, but Boise State rattled off a 14-4 run to win the set 25-17.
The Lobos showed some mettle after trailing in the third set 10-17, going on a 12-7 run of their own, but they could not close things out. The Broncos scored the match point after a timeout to win 25-22.
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Bronco player Sierra Nobley, who was named Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year, was the star of Thursday’s match, as she finished with 17 kills and a .500 hitting percentage.
On the Lobos’ side, three senior outside hitters also contributed some offense to the team. Julia Warren hit nine kills, Cassie House finished with eight and Devanne Sours added six.
Those same three pin hitters shined bright as they each posted more than 10 kills on Saturday to guarantee the team’s victory against Air Force.
“I thought Cassie and Devanne hit really well for us,” Nelson said on Saturday. “Julia also hit well.”
House hit the team-best .379 with 16 kills, Sours added 13 kills and Warren accomplished a double-double of 14 kills and 11 digs.
“It was nice to get a win on the road,” Nelson said. “This is our first road win in conference - it helps take some of the pressure off.”
The Lobos hit .301 as a team with 51 kills, most of which were from the pin hitters, and out-performed a .175 hitting percentage from the Falcons.
UNM also owes some of its dominant win and strong offensive performance to setter Lise Rugland, as she finished 40 assists to set a new career high for the second week in a row.
“I thought Lise (Rugland) did a good job of keeping the game simple for us and giving us chances to score and win,” Nelson said.
Lobo libero Ashley Kelsey helped build up the defense line, registering a game-high 17 digs.
UNM opened set one with a good 10-3 start, and although Air Force cut the gap to five points later in the set, the Lobos scored three straight points to win 25-17 following a timeout.
The two teams had a tight game two, which saw several lead changes and ties, and were deadlocked at 13-13 midway through the set.
UNM got set point at 24-22, but Air Force saved four set points and took a 27-26 lead. Nelson called timeout to regroup and the Lobos fired off three straight points to win set two 29-27.
The Falcons appeared to lose their consistency in game three after falling behind 6-12 to the Lobos. They climbed back to within two points, but allowed New Mexico to finish on a 9-5 run to complete the sweep 25-19.
Both of the Lobos’ two conference wins this season have come at the hands of the Falcons.
“Now we’ve won two of our last three, and hopefully we can get a run started the other way,” Nelson said.
The Lobos are expecting some momentum as they return home to host Fresno State on Thursday and San José State on Saturday at Johnson Center.
Bo Yu is a sports reporter at the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers cross country and women’s volleyball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Bo_YuB.
