Oct. 25, 2008
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - San Diego State played one of its closest matches of the season, but fell in three sets to the New Mexico Lobos in Albuquerque Saturday afternoon. The Aztecs came up two points short in each contest (25-23, 25-23, 25-23) as they gave UNM all it could handle in the second meeting between the teams in 2008.
With the win, the Lobos improved to 17-4 overall and 7-3 in the Mountain West Conference. SDSU saw its record fall to 7-13 (4-6 MWC).
Lauren Salisbury and Stephanie Darnall led San Diego State with a dozen kills apiece while freshman Kyley Sexton added 10. It was the fifth time in the past six matches that Sexton hit double figures in kills.
Salisbury added three blocks and hit .458 over the three sets with Sexton adding three blocks of her own. Elsewhere, setter Leah Lathrop completed double-double a effort with 21 assists and 10 digs while libero Michelle Ferrer led all players with 13 digs. Sophomore Kelsey Manasco also chipped in with seven kills and a .462 attack percentage with three digs and a block.
Lobo outside hitter Jeanne Fairchild claimed match-high honors with 15 kills and had the set-winning kill in each of the three sets. Her teammate, Lisa Meeter, finished with 10 kills and hit .318 for the match.
San Diego State trailed throughout much of the first set before tying the contest at 22-22. An Aztec service error and a service ace by Jade Michaelsen gave the Lobos the two-point lead, and after a kill by SDSU's Darnall, Fairchild closed out the set with a kill of her own.
In the second set, SDSU trailed by as many as five points before coming back to knot the score at 20-all. An Aztec attack error and a kill by Fairchild gave the Lobos the two-point edge that they maintained to claim the first-set win.
The third contest saw the teams separated by no more that two points with the score eventually tied at 22-22. Once again the home side scored two straight points on an SDSU hitting error and kill by Fairchild, then won the set and match on another put away by the Lobo outside hitter.
Up next for San Diego State is a home match against UNLV on Friday, Oct. 31, at 7:00 p.m. (PDT) in Peterson Gym.