.Las Vegas, Nev.—Latahevai Lousi and Ryann Thomison led the Spartans in kills, but the San José State volleyball team fell at UNLV 3-1 (25-19, -27-25, 26-28, 25-21) Thursday night in a Mountain West match at Cox Pavilion.
Lousi had 12 kills in the match to lead the team, while Thomison had 10 kills and hit a team-best .421 for the match (10-2-19). Thaliana Grajeda added eight kills, two blocks and two digs.
Spartan libero Luiza Andrade recorded a season-best 28 digs in the match and moved up the San José State career digs list. She now has 1,370 career digs in 104 matches played. Andrade moved into third place, passing Kristal Tsukano who had 1,350 digs, and is closing in on second place, needing just 42 digs to catch Dawnis Wilson at 1,412 digs.
The Spartans recorded 10 service aces in the match. Andrade and Grajeda each recorded three aces to lead the team. Fernanda Vido added two aces, while Caitlin Bettenay and Kaitlynn Zdroik each recorded one ace.
After losing the first set 25-19, San José State rallied in the second set, trading the lead with the Rebels eight times. The Spartans had set point at 24-23 on a Thomison kill and forcing UNLV to take at timeout. The Rebels then tied the set and took a 25-24 lead. SJSU tied the set at 25-25 on another Thomison kill before UNLV scored the final two points for the 27-25 set win.
The Spartans kept fighting in the third set. Despite falling behind 16-11, SJSU slowly chipped away at the lead and tied the match at 23-23. The Spartans had to fight off two match points for UNLV (24-23 and 25-24) before taking the lead at 26-25, forcing a UNLV timeout. The Rebels tied the match at 26-26, but back-to-back kills by Lousi and Grajeda gave San José State the set win.
San José State is now 6-8 overall and 1-4 in the MW. The Spartans continue on the road this Saturday at New Mexico. First serve is set for 1 p.m. MT/12 p.m. PT.
MW Match
Las Vegas, Nev.
UNLV def. San José State – 25-19, 27-25, 26-28, 25-21.
Kills – SJSU – Latahevai Lousi 12, Ryann Thomison 10. UNLV – Mariena Hayden 18.
Records – San José State 6-8, 1-4; UNLV 12-5, 3-2.
# # #
