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JuJunior Lexi Ross (center) celebrates a match-point victory against Duquesne University on Saturday. The Lobos won the match 3-1 and with the victory took the tournament.

Early loss motivates comeback, victory

sports@dailylobo.com

Sophomore middle blocker Chantale Riddle was determined to prevent the UNM volleyball team from losing to the same team twice in two nights.

Riddle had 22 kills against Duquesne University Saturday night at Johnson Center, leading the Lobos to a 3-1 match win and a tournament victory at the Sheraton Airport/LA Boxing Lobo Classic. The set scores in Saturday’s late match were 25-18, 20-25, 25-20 and 25-21.

In the earlier meeting Friday night, Duquesne defeated UNM 3-2 (15-25, 25-21, 25-19, 24-26, 15-10) in a match with 39 ties and 18 lead changes.

Duquesne finished the tournament as runner-up, while Southern finished third in the three-team event.

“I hate losing in general, but I don’t like losing on my home floor,” Riddle said after the match.

Losing to Duquesne Friday “was a big reason why we fought as hard as we could tonight,” Riddle said. “There are a lot of fans here. We don’t want them to think we’re not giving it our all every night.”

Riddle won MVP honors for her strong play. During the four matches against Duquesne and Southern, Riddle posted 56 kills — 42 in the Duquesne matches — and 13 blocks.

UNM sophomore middle blocker Elsa Krieg and junior libero Miquella Lovato earned all-tournament honors. Krieg recorded 23 kills and 12 blocks across both days, while Lovato had 68 digs.

“It was a nice tournament,” UNM head coach Jeff Nelson said. “We were talking that we wanted to play solid against Southern, not as strong a team. We wanted to learn to manage ourselves and play steady, and I felt like we did that in five and six games against them.”

Saturday’s fourth set between Duquesne and UNM was the closest of the day. Neither team led by more than three points, and the match was deadlocked at 21 late in the set.

UNM climbed back after being down 21-18 with a Duquesne attack error and kills from freshman hitter Alijah Gunsaulus and Riddle. Duquesne responded by calling a timeout.

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On the ensuing play, UNM had two huge diving digs off back-to-back Duquesne hits, resulting in another attack error by the Dukes and a 22-21 UNM lead.

Riddle took advantage after the Duquesne miscue, scoring the next two points on a block and a kill. On match point (24-21), the Duquesne kill attempt went out of bounds and gave UNM the victory.

“You can’t take any point off,” Riddle said. “Every point means something. Every point is important, and if you take a point off, that’s when they get closer and closer. If you keep fighting, you’re going to get closer and closer.”

Riddle’s 22 kills led all attackers by nine kills. She also had seven blocks. Gunsaulus added 11 kills, while junior outside hitter Lena Skipper added 10 kills and two blocks. Krieg and junior middle blocker Lexi Ross each had five blocks; Ross had one solo block.

Prior to Saturday night’s match, UNM completed a two-match, six-set sweep over Southern (4-0). The Lobos won Saturday by the scores of 25-11, 25-12 and 25-19 in a match, coming off Friday’s 25-10, 25-9 and 25-12 decision.

“We were a little relaxed. It got a little sloppy in the third game, but it was nice,” Nelson said after Saturday’s win over Southern. “We played completely different lineups (and) never really had our starting lineup in. We got some different people a chance to play, and they did a really good job.”

In both matches, UNM maintained the lead most of the time, tying Southern three times and trailing once. That occurred late in Saturday’s match when an out-of-bounds Lobo attack gave Southern the first point in set 3.

UNM regained its advantage with a Skipper kill and a Southern lift violation, and the Lobos never trailed again.

The UNM attack proved too much for Southern. The Lobos scored on 43 of 82 attempts with 11 errors, while Southern hit 20 of 73 with 16 errors.

Junior outside hitter Ashley Newman had 13 kills to lead the Lobos, while freshman middle blocker Skye Gullatt recorded 12 kills in 17 attempts and committed just one hitting error. Hannah Johnson provided 27 assists and a service ace, and redshirt freshman middle blocker Megan Short had two service aces.

“You kind of get to know a team, and you’re kind of hoping, in a sense, they’re not going to change from the night before,” Newman said, referring to seeing the same team on back-to-back days.

“You’re counting on them to do the same type of thing, and hoping for your team to actually learn from that experience.”

No Southern attacker reached double-digits in kills. Watts had seven, while Amber Shelby added six.

Defensively, UNM out-dug Southern 37-20 with Lovato recording 11 digs.

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