by Justin Goodrum
Daily Lobo
After defeating San Diego State on Friday night, the UNM volleyball team was unable to beat UNLV on Saturday for Jam Johnson night.
Last year at Jam Johnson, the Lobos broke an 18-match losing streak against Colorado State University, but this year UNLV (12-5, 3-2 Mountain West Conference) controlled most of the match and defeated the Lobos (6-10, 2-3 MWC) in five games.
Lobo head coach Kelley McKee said her team learned some valuable lessons from the defeat.
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"They've taken steps to get significantly better," she said. "That's the first time we've played a five-game match all year, and we weren't in the best of shape in game five. I think we can be more fit in that
situation."
In the first game, UNLV and UNM went back and forth. The Lobos won the first game 30-27.
However, UNLV got off to an early 10-5 lead in the second game. The Lobos rallied late, closing the gap to three and forcing UNLV to take a timeout.
UNM pulled to within 29-28, but UNLV held on for a 30-28 victory.
Game three was close until UNLV went on a 5-0 run. The Lobos were able to close to 28-27, but UNLV won 30-28.
Game four was closely contested. Neither team was able to pull away from the other, and the score was tied at 28.
Jeanne Fairchild hammered a spike, leading the Lobos to a 30-28 victory and a fifth game.
Lobo sophomore Sarah Kwasigroch said the fifth game was tough for the Lobos because of the team's inexperience.
"It was hard, because a lot of our freshmen have never experienced it before," she said.
Despite playing on the road, UNLV was able to put the match away in game five, winning 15-9.
Fairchild led the team with
19 kills.
She said the loss was a learning experience for the Lobos.
"I think we did well," she said. "We definitely could have done better, but it's kind of a chance for us to learn from it and improve on it. There's no way for us to go but up."
Kwasigroch had a big match with 63 assists. She said the team played all right but let the match slip.
"I think we played really well at times, and we struggled at others. But overall, I thought we had a very good match - we just couldn't pull it out," Kwasigroch said.
Fairchild said the team needs to improve on basics to succeed in
the MWC.
Despite having only three upperclassmen, the Lobos are working hard to improve as the season progresses, Kwasigroch said.
"It's awesome this year, because every week everyone is getting so much better on our team," she said. "We have one senior and two juniors, so the rest of us have so much more potential to improve. It's really going to help us and pay off in the end."
