RENO, Nev. - Nevada Volleyball fell 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 22-25, 25-15) in Thursday's weekend opener against San José State.
Malia Pilimai and
Madison Long led the Wolf Pack with 11 kills apiece while
Masyn Navarro made 12 digs with two service aces. For San José State, Morgan Graves paced four Spartan players in double figures with 12 kills and setters Hanna Darvas and Fatimah Hall passed out 25 and 23 assists, respectively.
The Wolf Pack celebrate Senior Day Saturday at 1 p.m., closing the series against the Spartans.
Nevada (5-20, 3-12 MW) got off to a fast start in the opening set, running out to a 5-1 lead fueled by two kills from
Madison Long. Palimai put down her second kill of the night as Nevada took a 10-5 lead, but San José State (8-18, 3-12 MW) started a comeback. The Spartans scored seven of the next nine points to even the set at 12-12 but the Pack responded with a 5-0 run of its own with kills from Long and Pilimai to reassert a 17-12 lead. But San José State came back with four-straight points to even it back up before the teams went blow-for-blow to a 22-22 deadlock. San José State, however, had the last laugh as consecutive attack errors from the Pack allowed the Spartans to score the final three points and take the set, 25-22.
San José State opened the second set with a 5-1 lead before a
Summer Suppik service ace fueled three-straight Nevada points to bring the Pack within one at 5-4. But the Spartans ran off three in a row to get back up four and never led by less than three the rest of the set. Nevada got kills from
Jess Walkenhorst,
Ceren Sert and Thies on a 4-0 run which cut the Spartan lead to three at 17-14 and forced a timeout, but that was as close as the Pack would get. San José State got the first two points out of the timeout and ended the set on an 8-3 run.
Things appeared bleak halfway through the third as San José State led 15-9 at the media timeout. But Nevada dug deep, going on a 9-1 run behind two kills from Pilimai to take an 18-16 lead. Kills from Walkenhorst and
Lara Pacheco along with aces from Sert and
Adriana Dorn upped the lead to 23-18 before the Pack held off a late Spartan run as Long's kill took the third.
Unfortunately for the Pack, the success did not carry over to the fourth set. San José State led 5-4 early and steadily pulled away, taking a 12-7 advantage near the halfway point. After a Long kill brought the Pack to 17-10, San José State scored three of the next four to take control at 20-12 and finished off the match with a 25-15 score.
