Nov. 8, 2014
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - San Diego State could not recover from a two-set deficit as it dropped a 3-1 decision (18-25, 17-25, 25-23, 21-25) to New Mexico at the Johnson Center in Albuquerque Saturday afternoon. The loss dropped the Aztecs to 11-13 overall and 6-7 in the Mountain West.
For the Lobos, the victory was their sixth in the last seven matches and upped their season record to 17-10 (9-5 Mountain West).
Junior outside hitter Halle Aiken led all players with a career-high 20 kills in the match as she was the lone Aztec to end the afternoon in double figures in that category. Her 20 points in the contest were also a career best while both her kill and point totals were the most by an SDSU player in a match in 2014.
Senior Chaiymin Steel notched a career high of her own with 20 digs over the four sets and also recorded a team-high four blocks and an assist.
Defensive specialist Devyn Pritchard and libero Alexa Saba registered 18 and 16 digs respectively while freshman setter Courtney Eckenrode contributed 45 assists, six digs, four kills and a pair of blocks.
Offensive inconsistency plagued the Aztecs throughout the contest as they hit just .111 as a team while New Mexico had a .246 attack percentage. SDSU's error total was almost double that of the Lobos (34-16).
The opening set was a tight affair that saw the teams tied at 15-15 before UNM scored back-to-back points to take the lead for good. The Aztecs got to within a point at 17-16, but the Lobos ran off five straight points to take control and see out the set victory.
The Aztecs got off to a good start in the second set as they grabbed an early 7-2 lead. New Mexico, however, came back to knot the score at 8-8 and, after the Aztecs went up 10-8, scored six in a row to take a 14-10 lead and go on to win the set. The closest SDSU got the rest of the way was within three at 19-16, but the Lobos ended the contest by taking six of the final seven points.
After the break the teams played another close contest that was tied as late as 17-17 before San Diego State went ahead for good on two UNM attack errors. The Lobos went down fighting as they got back to within a point at 24-23 before a kill by Baylee Little gave SDSU the set win.
In the fourth set New Mexico jumped out to a 4-0 lead and were never caught as it maintained its advantage over the course of the contest. The Lobos built their lead to as many as six points (16-10) before seeing out the four-point set win that enabled them to claim the match victory.
San Diego State now returns home to prepare for a match against San Jose State on Thursday, Nov. 13, at 6:00 p.m. on Aztec Court in Peterson Gym.