Staff Report
A nine-year losing streak went down the drain Saturday when the UNM volleyball team beat the Utah Utes.
The last time the Lobos beat Utah was 1996, a span that included 17 straight losses to the Utes.
With the win, UNM improved to 9-3 on the season - one win short of the team's total last year.
The nine wins are also one short of tying the program's high under the four years of head coach Kelley McKee.
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UNM took the Utes to five games, finally winning 3-2.
The Lobos started off quick, taking games one and two before giving up the next two as the Utes' Shelly Sommerfeldt put down 14 of her match-high 22 kills over the two games.
UNM came back in game five, keeping the game tied for most of it. In all, the game had nine score ties and seven lead changes.
Things took a turn in the Lobos' favor when the score was tied at 12.
Behind the serving of junior Kelly Therkelsen, the Lobos scored two straight points to go up 14-12. After the Utes' got the serve back, sophomore Samie Weber dropped a kill on Utah to take the match and the game 15-13.
Senior Chelsea Sondrup had a double-double in the match with 12 kills and 12 blocks. Senior Nicole Ryan put down 19 kills, with freshman Michelle Miller chipping in with 11 kills.
Miller and sophomore Kim Cox led the Lobos in digs with 14. Freshman Sarah Kwasigroch had 52 of the team's 54 assists.
The Lobos almost came out of the weekend with a sweep of teams from Utah, losing in five games to No. 22-ranked Brigham Young University on Friday night.
The Lobos dropped the first game against BYU 30-18, but battled back in game two to take the lead 17-7 on eight errors from the Cougars.
After BYU clawed its way back to a 21-17 deficit, UNM squeaked by with the 30-27 win.
The Cougars took game three 30-20, but the Lobos wouldn't go away, coming back to take another game 30-27.
BYU stamped out the Lobos' hopes for an upset with a 15-7 win in game five.
The win kept the Cougars' record at 8-0 on the season and 1-0 in the Mountain West Conference.
Ryan led the team in kills with 19, with Sondrup putting down 12 kills and three blocks. Weber added 11 kills and tied with Therkelsen for a team-high five blocks. Therkelsen also had eight kills.
Cox led the team in digs with 11, while Kwasigroch had 51 of the team's 54 assists.
