Lobos top Air Force; Aggies cooled off
Saturday afternoon’s match at Johnson Center turned into a block party for the University of New Mexico volleyball team.
The Lobos posted 15 blocks, including several on key points, on their way to a four-set victory over visiting Air Force. The set scores were 26-24, 18-25, 25-22 and 25-17.
Middle blocker Mariessa Carrasco had a big day for UNM (13-11, 7-5 Mountain West) with nine kills, a .421 attack percentage and a match-best nine blocks. The Lobos’ net defense proved decisive. The Falcons (13-12, 3-8) outdug UNM 59-42 and had seven service aces to UNM’s one.
“Air Force played well. It was a really good match,” Lobos coach Jeff Nelson said. “I’m really happy with our performance up front. We got really good production from the middle and the right side, especially, and we needed it.”
Lauren Twitty (14 kills) and Tai
Bierria (13) led the hitting attack for the Lobos, who won their second straight match. Mercedes Pacheco anchored UNM’s back-row defense with 15 digs.
It wasn’t an easy win for New Mexico as Air Force got strong performances from Denise Ssozi (16 kills) and Elizabeth Pennington (15 kills, three aces). UNM got late kills from Carrasco and Twitty to break a 24-24 tie and take set one, but the Falcons finished set two with a 7-1 run to even the match.
The teams traded long scoring runs in set three, which was ultimately tied at 18. Carrasco then had back-toback block assists during a pivotal 6-2 surge that helped UNM grab a 2-1 lead in the match. The Falcons led 8-4 in the final set when kills by Twitty and Yasmin Tan sparked an 8-1 run to put the Lobos ahead to stay. Tan finished with five kills and a career-best seven block assists.
UNM celebrated the 30th anniversary of its 1988 High Country Athletic Conference championship by introducing numerous members of that team along with coaches Laurel Brassey and Matt McShane. McShane is currently head coach at Air Force.
UTRGV 3, NMSU 2: In Las Cruces, visiting UT Rio Grande Valley snapped New Mexico State’s sevenmatch winning streak in five sets. The set scores were 26-24, 13-25, 25-22, 23-25 and 15-13.
Albuquerque natives Cat Kelly and Tatyana Battle let the Aggies (13-6, 7-3 WAC) with 18 and 15 kills, respectively. But Ragni Steen Knudsen had a match-best 21 kills for UTRGV (17-8, 8-3), which moved a half-game in front of NMSU into second place in the conference. California Baptist (19-6, 9-3) is in first place.