FRESNO, Calif. -- The Southern Utah Thunderbirds fell to New Mexico State on Saturday in four sets, dropping to 0-6 on the young season. While a first win eluded the Thunderbirds, strong play on both ends continued the team's trend of rapid improvement through its early matches.
The match started slowly for the Thunderbirds, conceding a 9-1 run to open up the first set. Unwilling to go down without a fight, they responded with a 9-5 run and cut the deficit to just four points. The two teams matched each other point-for-point the rest of the way, with New Mexico State taking the first frame by a score of 25-21.
Southern Utah ran out to an early lead in the second set, with Kaitlyn Hoelker scoring three early kills to provide the spark as the Thunderbirds looked poised to end the frame and tie the match quickly. But with the score at 22-18 in favor of Southern Utah, New Mexico State rattled off a 6-1 run to take the lead and push the Thunderbirds to the brink. Unfazed by the pressure, Maya Banks scored to tie the set at 24 apiece. Then, after a service error by the Thunderbirds, Kaitlyn Hoelker delivered her ninth kill of the match to save the set again at 25-25 before Southern Utah closed out a second-set win by a score of 27-25.
The third set featured momentum swings, with each team going on a scoring run only for the other to counter immediately. With the score at 17-14 in favor of the Aggies, New Mexico State put together one last 8-3 scoring run to take the set 25-17 and set themselves up to win the match in the fourth set.
The fourth set started neck and neck, with neither team able to build a lead larger than two points until the Aggies put together a 4-0 run to take the lead, 14-10. The Thunderbirds fought hard but ultimately couldn't close the gap as the Aggies closed out the final set 25-16.
After a theme of consistent offensive improvement over the last three matches, the Thunderbirds' defense took a step forward in this outing, more than doubling their season high in total blocks with 18, and recording a season second-best 37 digs. The offense also continued to grow as a unit, improving on their previous season-best hitting percentage by nearly 60 points while Maya Banks and Kaitlyn Hoelker became the first teammates to both score 10+ kills for the Thunderbirds this season with 10 and 14 respectively.
Kaitlyn Hoelker led the team in scoring for a second straight game with 15 points in the match, while Maya Banks scored another 12. Emilia Linden added seven kills to her season stats on just 11 attempts in addition to assisting on three blocks in a very efficient performance. Defensively, the Thunderbirds were led by Natalie Moore with six blocks, and Zorana Stankovska with eight digs.
Southern Utah will be back in action on September 11 as they travel to Seattle to take on the Washington State Cougars at 4:00 pm MT.
Follow Us
Stay up to date on the Thunderbirds Volleyball program by following @SUUVolleyball on Twitter and Instagram and liking the Southern Utah Volleyball page on Facebook.
Donate
To help support Thunderbirds athletics, consider donating today! To learn more about how you can support, click here.Â
Tickets
Single-game and season tickets for the upcoming Southern Utah Volleyball season are now available. For more information and to purchase tickets for SUU Volleyball, visit tbirdtickets.com.
