The UNM women's volleyball team could not overcome its own errors during a 3-0 loss against the San Diego State University Aztecs Saturday at Johnson Arena.
The Aztecs swept the three games 32-30, 30-13 and 30-27. With the win, the Aztecs improve to 8-2 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain West Conference.
The Lobos' slide continued as they dropped their seventh straight game to go to 2-7 on the year and 0-2 in league play.
"It's frustrating for all of us, not just the coaches," head coach Tom Peterson said. "We're making too many inexperienced errors in our matches."
After falling behind early in game one 18-13, the Lobos battled back behind kills by sophomores Anna Reines and Lynzie Haynes to take a 27-26 lead against the Aztecs.
Reines finished the match with nine kills and Haynes recorded four kills off the bench.
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UNM could not keep the lead or the momentum they built as the Aztecs took advantage of a series of Lobo mistakes to take game one 32-30.
"We knew we could beat them, but we just folded," Haynes said.
In game two, San Diego State took advantage of the Lobos' lack of confidence as the high-energized Aztecs opened with the first five points of the game.
The Aztecs used a perfect attack lead by sophomore Zlatina Anguelova, who ended with a game-high 14 kills, to score point after point against the Lobos.
UNM could never get its offense or defense rolling as SDSU turned the game into a lopsided affair, winning 30-13 and taking a 2-0 advantage.
In game three, the same story unfolded as the Lobos started off slow, which allowed the Aztecs to build a comfortable 10-3 lead.
The Lobos desperately tried to climb their way back into the game behind senior Malena Thompson, who had a team-high 11 kills. Thompson helped close the gap to 21-20 in favor of the Aztecs, but that would be the closest UNM would come to San Diego State. SDSU used a barrage of Lobo mistakes to finish off UNM 30-27.
"We need to serve and pass a whole lot better," junior Blaire Burns said. "We are just beating ourselves, we can be a good team."
Despite the Lobos' struggles so far this year, Peterson said he does see an improving Lobo team.
"We got better this match, there were periods of time when we played better," he said. "I think we are on the up."
The Lobos will have to improve quickly if they want to break their current slide when they travel to 14th-ranked Brigham Young University and then to the No. 21 University of Utah this weekend.
"BYU and Utah are two top-25 teams; what we absolutely have to do is get better to win," Peterson said.
