The New Mexico volleyball team continued to show improvement against some of the top programs in the nation, but could not pull out a victory.
The Lobos (3-5) lost a 3-2 heartbreaker to the Arizona State Sun Devils (3-2), and fell later in the day by a score of 4-1 to the Arizona Wildcats (3-2) in Tempe, Arizona on Sunday.
“We’re still getting better with each match,” head coach Jeff Nelson said in a release. “It was an exciting day...The level was really high.”
Arizona State was ranked No. 9 in the DiG Magazine Poll and 12th in the AVCA Poll entering the match, and the Sun Devils showed why they were deserving of the ranking.
New Mexico attempted some changes in the lineup and it seemed to work for the most part in the Lobos’ first match on Sunday against ASU.
Although Julia Warren and Lauren Twitty lost their first match in this season at the No. 5 spot, 21-18, 21-17, Marisa Doran and Eastyn Baleto shifted around to play as the No. 4 pair and evened things up with their 21-14, 21-17 win to make the team score 1-1.
Jackie Baro and Carly Beddingfield also moved up in the lineup to compete on court four, but they were taken down 21-15, 21-11.
UNM responded again with another big win, when the top-seeded pair of Cassie House and Ashley Kelsey tied the match again. The duo edged their opponents by a score of 21-19 in both sets to make it 2-2 overall.
The No. 2 tandem of Devanne Sours and Lise Rugland fought back after losing the first set 21-11 to win set number two 21-16. However, they fell in the decisive third set, 16-14, which clinched a 3-2 Sun Devils win.
Despite of the defeat, New Mexico saw its top two pairs demonstrate their ability to challenge at the top level.
“Our top (of our lineup) has been really performing well and I’m really happy with it,” Nelson said.
Sours and Rugland also bounced back soon on court two later in the day to prevent the Lobos from getting swept by the Wildcats.
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Arizona was ranked eighth in the AVCA Poll and No. 13 by DiG Magazine in the most recent release.
Doran and Baleto tried to get the Lobos off to a good start, but were dropped in two sets (21-15, 21-10) on court four to give Arizona the early 1-0 lead.
In the No. 5 position, Warren and Twitty dominated in set one, but a two-point loss in set two seemed to shake their confidence as they pair faded down the stretch in a 21-10, 19-21, 15-6 loss.
The Wildcats clinched the deul with a third victory on court one, where they dispatched House and Kelsey by a margin of 21-15, 21-14.
The Lobos fell behind 4-0 in the team score after Baro, who paired with Victoria Spragg to play in the No. 3 spot, lost 21-10, 21-18.
New Mexico picked up its first and only score in the match against Arizona, when Sours and Rugland defeated their foes 21-14, 21-11. Though Arizona still walked away with the 4-1 team victory.
The season record fell to 0-5 when UNM has faced nationally ranked teams, but the most recent encounters felt different. New Mexico has made strides in closing the gap, as two of the past three matches went down to the wire.
More adjustment in the lineups could be coming as the Lobos continue to search for the right mix and pick up their first win against a top team.
UNM will travel to Florida to participate in the Stetson Beach Invitational, and compete against Florida Atlantic, Georgia State and Morehead State on Friday.
Bo Yu is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers beach volleyball, track and field, cross country and volleyball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Bo_YuB.
