New Mexico Proves Too Tough To Handle For BYU

PROVO -- The BYU women’s volleyball team could not conjure up the magic from a victory the night before as the Cougars fell Saturday night to New Mexico (25-19, 25-18, 25-20). The home loss dropped BYU to 11-10 overall and 4-7 in Mountain West Conference play.

“New Mexico is a great team, but so are we,” said BYU head coach Shay Goulding. “We just had a few too many errors and gave them points at crucial times. Sometimes we were just trying too hard.”

Senior Bryn Porter provided a statistical highlight on the night as she posted her fifth double-double of the season with a team-best 12 kills and 11 digs. Sophomore Melissa Lake led BYU with 13 digs while junior Kayla Walker added 12. Three Cougars – Porter, Rachel Dyer and Christina Measom – each tallied three blocks on the night.

After posting a season-high 13 kills on Friday night, Ashton Hansen Hosford picked up where she left off to tally BYU’s first winner of the match. The Cougar offense was firing on all cylinders early, but New Mexico matched BYU point-for-point. The Cougars were able to squeeze out an 11-9 lead only to see it disappear with four straight Lobo scores. Measom got the BYU sideout to make the score 13-12, but the UNM lead was soon 16-12. The Cougars got back to within two but could not come any closer, falling 25-22.

BYU jumped out to a fast 6-2 lead in set two, hitting .750 in the process. However, New Mexico quickly climbed back with a 5-0 run to go up 8-7. A kill from Dyer got BYU back on the board, but the Lobos proved too tough to handle. New Mexico steadily increased its lead throughout the remainder of the set to post a 25-18 victory, hitting .303 while holding BYU to a .105 hitting efficiency.

With their backs against the wall, the Cougars led early in set three only to see the Lobos come back to knot the score at 10-10. Three plays later, New Mexico had the lead at 12-11. The Cougars initially kept it close but eventually fell behind 17-13. The two teams traded points from there, but the deficit proved too much as BYU fell, 25-20.

The Cougars will hit the road next week for two league matches at UNLV on Thursday and at San Diego State on Saturday.