Albuquerque, N.M.—Haylee Nelson led the Spartan volleyball team with 17 kills and hit .371 for the match, but San José State could not complete the comeback at New Mexico in the 3-1 loss Thursday night in a Mountain West match.
Nelson recorded her 17 kills on 35 swings and had only four errors. She added four blocks in the match.
Latahevai Lousi added 12 kills as the only other Spartan with double-digit kills. Thaliana Grajeda hit .357 for the match (72-14) and added a team-best six blocks for SJSU.
Defensively, Sarah Smevog led a trio of Spartans in double-digit digs with 18. Fernanda Vido added 12 digs, while Caitlin Bettenay came off the bench to collect 11 digs.
Set 1 – The Spartans never had a lead in the set. The team was down 16-11 but rallied to tie the set at 19-19 on a Ryann Thomison block. SJSU could not get the lead as the Lobos won the first set 25-22.
Set 2 – Unfortunately, the Spartans never had a lead in the set and fell 25-14.
Set 3 – San José State rallied to win the set 25-22. Thomison had the set winner, dropping it over the net and between the Lobos. The team hit .343 in the set with 19 kills on 35 attempts and seven errors.
Set 4 – Both teams battled in the final set with four lead changes and eight tied scores. The Spartans led 19-15 after a Thomison kill, but the Lobos chipped away at the lead. New Mexico took the lead for good at 21-20, but SJSU fought off two match points to cut the score to 24-23 before the Lobos won 25-23.
San José State is now 10-16 on the season and 5-10 in the MW. The Spartans play the final road match of the 2019 season this Saturday at UNLV. First serve is set for 5 p.m. inside Cox Pavilion.
New Mexico def. San José State 3-1 (25-22, 25-14, 22-25, 25-23).
Kills – SJSU – Haylee Nelson 17; NM – Kaitlynn Biassou & Lauren Twitty 13.
Records – San José State 10-16, 5-10; New Mexico 9-18, 4-11.
# # #
