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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M– Sabrina Bianco (match-high 27 assists, 11 digs) and Lauren Twitty (match-high 19 kills, 11 digs) each recorded double-doubles for the University of New Mexico volleyball team, but it wasn’t enough as the Wyoming Cowgirls took the five-set victory on Saturday afternoon at the Johnson Center.
It was Bianco’s fourth double-double of the season and Twitty’s 10th.
Tai Bierria hit .300 in the match with 17 kills to aid the Lobo offense, while Mercedes Pacheco matched her career high with 21 digs and Mariessa Carrasco had six assisted blocks to lead the Lobo defense. Bianco also had a team-high two service aces in the match, bringing her season total to a team-high 16.
With the 14-25, 25-23,15-25, 25-19, 9-15 loss, the Lobos fell to 11-11 overall and 5-5 in Mountain West competition, and have lost four straight.
The Lobos held the Mountain West block leader Reed Copeland to just three assisted blocks in the match, but as a team the Cowgirls held a 17-8 total team blocks advantage.
In the first set, the Lobos tallied the first point on a net violation by the Cowgirls, but much like Thursday’s match, the visitors responded with a run, scoring the next seven points to take the early 7-1 lead. The Lobos cut the margin to three at 10-7 on a Victoria Spragg kill and Cowgirl attack error. Carrasco and Twitty combined for a block to make it 11-8, however, the Cowgirls used a 10-2 run, including an 8-0 run, to create separation at 21-10. The Lobos scored four more points on a kill from Danica Rowan, a service error and two attack errors by Wyoming before dropping the first set 25-14. Nicolette Clark and Rowan each had two kills to lead the team, while Bianco had three of the team’s five assists in the set. Pacheco had three digs and Twitty and Carrasco combined for the only block of the frame for UNM.
Bierria gave the Lobos a 2-1 lead early on in the second set, but Wyoming tallied the next three points to take the 4-2 advantage. A Carrasco and Clark block brought the Lobos within one, however, the Cowgirls scored the next two points to push the margin up to three. UNM answered to tie the set at seven with two Cowgirl service errors and a kill by Twitty, and after a tie at eight, registered the next two points on a kill by Jaclyn Inclan and a Wyoming attack error for a 10-8 advantage. The margin grew to 14-10 on a Bierria kill and then to five on a service error by Wyoming that made it 19-14. Wyoming proceeded to score the next three points on New Mexico errors to cut the lead to two at 19-17, but Inclan ended the run with a kill. A block by Carrasco and Twitty followed to make it 21-17 Lobos, but the Cowgirls went on a 5-1 run to tie the set at 22. After the Cowgirls took the 23-22 lead, Twitty evened up the score with a kill, and the Lobos would record the next two points on a Carrasco and Clark block and a Carrasco kill to take the set, 25-23. Twitty had seven kills in the second set, followed by Bierria who had four. Bianco added eight assists, and Pacheco recorded seven more digs.
A Pacheco dig that dropped in for a point brought the Lobos within one at 3-2 early in the third set, and a Clark service ace made it 5-4, however, the Cowgirls put together a 3-0 run to stretch their lead to 9-6. A 6-1 run created an eight-point separation in favor of the visitors at the media timeout. Out of the timeout, the Lobo deficit grew to 10 at 18-8. The Lobos rallied with a 3-0 run to cut the deficit to six at 20-14 with kills by Bierria and Twitty and a ball handling error by the Cowgirls. However, the Cowgirls registered the next two points to build their lead back up. The Lobos would get one final point on a Spragg kill, but the Cowgirls took the third set, 25-15, to gain the 2-1 lead in the match. Bierria led the Lobos with five of the team’s 10 kills and Pacheco again led with three digs in the set. Carrasco and Inclan recorded the only block in the set and Clark recorded the first service ace of the match for UNM.
UNM took an early 6-3 lead in the fourth set with a 3-0 run from back-to-back kills by Twitty and a ball handling error, which grew to four at 8-4, forcing Wyoming to burn two early timeouts. Wyoming cut the deficit in half at 11-9, but Bierria led a 3-0 Lobo run with three-straight kills to build the lead up to five at 14-9. Once again, the Cowgirls made a push to cut the lead to two at 17-15, but Bianco recorded consecutive aces to regain a five-point cushion at 20-15. Down the stretch, Wyoming closed in on New Mexico, pulling within two at 20-18, but after a UNM timeout, the Lobos rallied with three-straight kills by Twitty, Bierria and Clark to create separation. The Cowgirls were able to record one final point before Clark and Bierria closed out the set with kills. The Lobos took the fourth set, 25-19 behind eight kills from Bierria and seven from Twitty.
Wyoming stemmed the momentum and jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the fifth set and held an 8-4 lead at the midway point. Consecutive points by the Lobos off kills by Spragg and Twitty cut into the lead at 9-6, but three was as close as UNM was able to get. Wyoming registered five of the next seven points, including the final three of the match, to take the set 15-9 and the match. Spragg had three of the team’s six kills in the frame and Inclan had four assists.
The Lobos have a quick turnaround as they travel to UNLV for a Tuesday night match. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. MT.