Volleyball Falls in Season Opener

Friday, August 24

Albuquerque, N.M.

9:30 PM

Florida Atlantic

0-1

New Mexico

1-0

Florida Atlantic

New Mexico

8/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Aug. 25, 2007

Box Score

The Florida Atlantic University volleyball team fell three games to one (14-30, 25-30, 30-27, 17-30) to New Mexico Friday night.

The match was part of the Lobo Classic, hosted by New Mexico and was the Owls' season opener. FAU stayed within two points early in the first game before an 11-2 Lobo run gave New Mexico an 11-point lead and helped them take the first game 30-14. Game two started out as a tug-of war as the two teams battled through several ties and lead changes. An attack error by Rose Morris allowed the Owls to pull within one at 18-17, when a 7-3 streak for the Lobos gave them a 25-20 lead and they were able to hold off FAU for the game two win.

FAU found themselves trailing 8-4 early in game three before engineering a rally of their own, taking eight of the next nine points, including three kills by Justine Petry to gain a 12-9 edge. The Lobos would come back to tie the match at 13, leading to an exchange similar to game two when the two teams went almost point for point, resulting in a 24-24 deadlock. The Owls would outscore New Mexico 6-3 down the stretch including three kills by Krystena Castro to take the 30-24 game three victory.

Game four was tied 7-7 when New Mexico caught fire outscoring FAU 23-10 the rest of the way to take the game and the match, three games to one. Petry led the Owls with 17 kills and freshman Kala Abdell registered 14 kills in her first collegiate match. Casey LaRocca posted a double-double with 44 assists and 14 digs.

The Owls drop to 0-1 on the year, but can rebound on Day 2 of the Lobo Classic when they face San Jose State and Grambling at noon eastern and 7 p.m. eastern, respectively. All games can be followed via GameTracker on New Mexico's official athletics website golobos.com.