Boise State Falls in Four at New Mexico

Saturday, September 30

Albuquerque, N.M.

1 p.m. MT

Boise State

7-7,3-1Mountain West

New Mexico

10-5,2-2Mountain West

Boise St.

New Mexico

9/30/2023 4:22:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Courtesy: Boise State Athletics

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Boise State volleyball came up short Saturday afternoon in Albuquerque, N.M., falling 3-1 (25-20, 16-25, 25-20, 25-20) to the New Mexico Lobos in a tightly contested match.

The loss was the first for the Broncos in Mountain West play and snapped a five-match wins streak as they moved to 7-7 overall and 3-1 in the league.

The first frame saw six ties and four lead changes as the Broncos fell by five points 25-20. Up two at 20-18, the Lobos used a 5-2 run to close it out for an early 1-0 match advantage.

Boise State regrouped and won the second set by nine points after seeing the score tied eight times and the lead change twice. With the score tied at 11, the Broncos used a 3-0 run to take the lead for good up 14-11. Paige Bartsch (three kills) and Noelani Helm (block solo and kill) combined for five of the Broncos' final six points to claim the win.

The final two sets would finish with the same score as set one at 25-20 in favor of the home side. Both were tight until late when the Lobos put the sets away to claim the 3-1 victory.

Neither team hit the ball particularly well, as UNM outhit Boise State .182 percent to .136 percent. The Lobos also used 16 blocks to their advantage, while the Broncos tallied 10.

Quotables

"It was a tough loss today," said head coach Shawn Garus. "UNM played well down the stretch to close us out. I thought our players had good energy but didn't play smart. We will watch the video, learn from it, and be ready to go next week at home."

Top Broncos

Bartsch finished the match with a team-high 22 kills to go with seven digs and two block solos for a team-best 24 points.
Helm recorded a double-double on 37 assists and 12 digs; she also had three kills, three blocks, and one service ace.
Annie Kaminski recorded a team-second-best 12 kills while hitting a team-best .391 percent.
Breanna Mitchell tallied a team-high 24 digs from the libero position.

Notables

Bartsch recorded her eighth contest, and her sixth straight, with 20-plus kills …she also earned her 10th match with 20-plus points.
Helm earned her team-best seventh double-double of the season.
Mitchell recorded her third match of the year with 20-plus digs.
Day finished the match with a team-high five blocks, her third straight contest with five or more and her fifth of the year.
Kaminski recorded her fifth contest in double-figure kills and her second of the weekend.
Bella McGirr tallied a career-high 17 digs.