By: Gabriella Kelly – Spear Reporter | Freshman outside hitter Morgan Graves hits while teammates cover her (Photo by: Shahd Suliman– Spear Photographer)
San Jose State women’s volleyball (9-11, 4-5 MW) fought hard against New Mexico (9-11, 1-8 MW) in their match on Saturday, with the final score being a 3-1 victory.
The Spartans were ready for another success after losing to Grand Canyon on Thursday.
The fourth and final set brought the match together with great performances from all the players, with redshirt junior Lolo Fauna’s final kill sealing the win for the Spartans.
This was another great game for freshman Morgan Graves with 35 total attacks (TA) and sophomore Learden Lee with 29 TA.
The first set was neck-to-neck, with key players like outside hitters junior Naima Foster and Graves with exceptional kills as well as freshman setter Clara Christensen, with assists.
“We served really well. We had them out of system,” head coach Todd Kress said.
The Spartans fell short in the first match after missing the Lobos’ blocks throughout the set, which is something that Kress spoke on.
“We still missed some block assignments that we’re going to talk about at practice,” Kress said.
Despite these factors, the Spartans brought it back in the second match with freshman Nazare Judd’s winning point serve.
In the third game, the Spartans’ competitive energy resurfaced after the Lobos decided to challenge a call early on, and the point went to SJSU.
“We can’t wait for a challenge call to build energy,” Kress said, “That needs to be self-motivated, our energy, not from a challenge call.”
The atmosphere of the match began to shift. Junior Morgan Castaneda had several great serves, and junior Ava Hewitt-Smith dominated close to the net.
Freshman outside hitter Halle Kerkman had two impactful kills that led to them winning their third set after being subbed in the last few minutes.
Kress plans to work on passing and their second ball contact so that their attackers can score more efficiently for their upcoming away game.
“This is one of the toughest road trips of the year,” Kress said. “But I always look forward to it because we’re playing in front of great crowds. It’s a great opportunity for us to go on the road and get wins.”
The Spartans head to Wyoming to play against the Cowgirls at 5:30 p.m. on Oct. 30 at the Uniwyo Sports Complex.
