No. 20 CSU needs 5 sets to top Lobos
Aggies top UTRGV for 11th consecutive home win
The University of New Mexico team rose to a major challenge Saturday, just not quite high enough.
The Lobos pushed No. 20 Colorado State to five sets at Johnson Center but couldn’t contain the Rams’ impressive front line long enough to complete the upset. CSU (202, 10-0 Mountain West) came from behind to win 21-25, 24-26, 25-17, 25-16, 15-11.
Lauren Twitty and Ashley Kelsey led an inspired effort by UNM (11-12, 3-7), which played its fifth match in a 10-day span. Twitty racked up 19 kills and 18 digs, while Kelsey amassed a match-high 25 digs before needing help to reach the locker room, completely exhausted.
The Rams, paced by Breana Runnels’ 20 kills, won their 10th straight match but were pushed beyond three sets for just the second time in Mountain West play. CSU came in leading the nation in three-set sweeps.
“I thought we came out super strong, focused and didn’t hold anything back,” Twitty said. “I’m proud of our effort. We showed the level we can play at against a really good opponent.”
Lobos coach Jeff Nelson couldn’t help finding the few flaws that might have prevented his team from completing the upset. Still, he was hardly dissatisfied.
“It was a crazy week and there were lots of good things on our side today,” he said. “I just wish we’d stayed a little more aggressive late in the match, especially on our serve. You have to against a team like that because they’re so good on system.”
CSU may have been a bit flat in set 1, committing six service errors to help along the fired-up Lobos. But the Rams built a 23-19 lead in set 2, only to have UNM battle back. Key kills by Twitty and Yasmin Tan sparked a finishing 7-1 run.
The Rams’ offense began to click in set 3, thanks to the pinpoint setting of Katie Oleksak. The sophomore spread the ball around among outside hitters Runnels, Jasmine Hanna (16 kills), Sanja Cizmic (11 kills) and middles Pauline HougaardJensen (12) and Kirstie Hillyer (9), creating issues for UNM’s blockers.
“(Oleksak) is the best player in our league,” Nelson said, “and even with that, we had a chance to win. She makes it really tough, though.”
UNM’s back row finished with 77 digs to CSU’s 56, but the Rams’ front-line play eventually won the day. CSU steadily built leads in each of the final three sets, finally wearing down the Lobo defense.
Mariessa Carrasco had 11 kills for UNM, while Carly Beddingfield added 10. All of Beddingfield’s kills came in the first three sets.
NMSU 3, UTRGV 1: In Las Cruces, the Aggies won their 11th consecutive home match behind 16 kills from Kassandra Tohm and 12 more from Ruidoso freshman Lia Mosher.
The win drew New Mexico State (15-7, 6-2 Western Athletic Conference) into a firstplace tie with UT Rio Grande Valley (12-9, 6-2), who had beaten the Aggies in five sets on Sept. 23 in Edinburg, Texas.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position now where we we’re tied for first and we partially control our own destiny,” said NMSU coach Mike Jordan, whose squad next goes to Kansas City, Mo., to face UMKC on Thursday.