Oct. 31, 2009
SAN DIEGO - After dropping the first set in extra points, New Mexico came back to win three in a row as it defeated San Diego State, 3-1 (24-26, 25-19, 25-18, 25-22) Saturday afternoon in Peterson Gym. The Lobos, who won for the third time in their last four outings, improved to 16-8 overall and 7-5 in the Mountain West Conference. The loss dropped SDSU to 10-12 on the season and 4-7 in league play.
The Aztecs were led by Hannah Evans, who matched her career high of 16 kills and with nine digs finished one dig shy of recording her third straight double-double. Teammate Paije Pearson notched 14 kills to tie her career best which she set against Cal State Fullerton earlier this season. The sophomore from Chandler, Ariz., added six digs and a pair of blocks while hitting .333 over the four sets.
Aztec senior Caitlin McMillan chipped in with a season-high five kills and also had 10 digs and two blocks. SDSU's leading blocker on the day was freshman Andrea Hannasch, who had four along with a pair of service aces.
UNM's Lisa Meeter led all players with 19 kills and added 10 digs to complete a double-double effort. Three other Lobos finished in double figures in kills including Taylor Hadfield (14), Anna Lehne (12) and Rose Morris with 10.
San Diego State came out with the initiative in the opening set as it opened up an 11-6 lead and increased that advantage to seven points at 21-14. New Mexico, however, would not quit as it came back to tie the contest at 23-23. After the teams traded points, the Aztecs got a kill from Pearson and a Lobo hitting error to claim the two-point victory at 26-24. Lauren Salisbury and Pearson had four kills apiece for the Aztecs.
In the second set, the Lobos took the lead for good with four straight points at 3-3 and SDSU was unable to get closer than two (17-15) the rest of the way. Meeter had half a dozen kills to lead the visitors while Evens had four for the Aztecs. UNM came back to hit .419 for the set after recording just a .122 attack percentage in the opening game.
Set number three saw New Mexico take the lead at 6-5 and stay ahead through the end of the contest. SDSU was as close as a point when it trailed 15-14, but the Lobos took advantage of a pair of Aztec hitting errors and a kill by Morris to extend their lead to 18-14 and pull away for the seven-point win. Meeter led all players with five kills in the game as her team hit .552.
San Diego State won three of the first four points to open up the fourth set, but the visitors then went on an 8-0 run fueled by a pair of kills by Jade Michaelsen plus a kill and two service aces by Hadfield. The Aztecs were able to whittle the Lobos' lead down to three at 22-19, but that's as close as they would come before New Mexico put the match away on a pair of kills by Lehne.
Up next for San Diego State is a matchup with Mountain West Conference foe Wyoming on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 7:00 p.m. (MT) in Laramie.