Air Force Academy
New Mexico
Falcons Drop Conference Opener to New Mexico
9/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 28, 2002
The Air Force volleyball team lost its conference opener, falling to New Mexico in three games, (23-30, 29-31, 25-30). The loss snaps a three-match winning streak for the Falcons and drops their record to 6-9 overall and 0-1 in the Mountain West.
"I am very disappointed with this loss," head coach Penny Lucas-White said. "We missed an opportunity to win our conference opener on the road. We played as well as the Lobos in most areas, but still need to overcome the mental mistakes."
After losing game one 30-23, the Falcons regrouped and started off strong in game three. After attacking their way to a 17-10 lead, the Falcons saw their lead slip away as the Lobos battled back to tie the score 20-20. The teams exchanged points throughout the remainder of the game, before the Lobos finally pulled out the 31-29 victory. The Falcons led 22-21 in game three, but the Lobos won seven went on a 7-0 run to take an insurmountable lead.
The Falcons finished the match with a .155 hitting percentage (50k-129a-30e). They tallied 46 digs and had two team blocks. Delavane Diaz led all hitters with 18 kills. Tiffany Bishop and Lamecca Jefferson notched 14 kills each. Libero Jaime Beatty led the team with 16 digs. Kristin Huitt notched 48 assists, her season high for a three-game match.
Anna Reines was the Lobos top hitter, with 12 kills, followed by Vanessa Shields with 10. Alicia Judy had 13 digs for New Mexico, who improves to 6-8 overall and 1-1 in the league.
The Falcons are still looking to break a conference losing streak that stretches back to the 1999 season. They travel to Utah to face BYU on Oct. 4th and Utah on Oct 5th. They are a combined 0-16 against the two Utah schools.
