ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos and Rebels meet for the second time this season on Tuesday night at the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, with first serve scheduled for 7 p.m. MT. UNM was victorious in the meeting on Sept. 26 with a four-set score of 25-14, 19-25, 25-23, 25-10.
UNLV enters the contest at 15-7 overall and 6-4 in the Mountain West, and features the conference leader in kills, kills per set, service aces, service aces per set, points and points per set in outside hitter Mariena Hayden. The Rebels lost their last match versus Colorado State, but won the previous two matches.
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Lobos Last Time Out
New Mexico volleyball team fell in five sets to Wyoming (14-25, 25-23,15-25, 25-19, 9-15) on Saturday. Sabrina Bianco (match-high 27 assists, 11 digs) and Lauren Twitty (match-high 19 kills, 11 digs) each recorded double-doubles, and Tai Bierria had 17 kills to compliment Twitty on offense. 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
UNM lost in straight sets to Colorado State (25-16, 25-16, 25-15) to drop both home matches on the week.
Last Time Versus UNLV
The Lobos gave the Rebels their first conference loss of the season with a 25-14, 19-25, 25-23, 25-10 four-set match win in Albuquerque.
Lauren Twitty led the Lobos with 15 kills in the match, hitting .333, while Sabrina Bianco and Jaclyn Inclan tallied 22 and 21 assists, respectively. Mercedes Pacheco had a team-high 17 digs and Victoria Spragg had two solo blocks and three assisted blocks to anchor the defense. Twitty also had a team-high two service aces on the night.
Going the Distance
Eight times this season, UNM has played five sets, recording a 5-3 record.
In UNM’s last match against Wyoming, the Lobos forced a fifth set with a 25-23 fourth set win, but were unable to pull out the victory as they fell behind 6-2 early on in the fifth set and lost 15-9.
In the win versus the Wolf Pack, the Lobos easily took the first set after hitting .500 as a team before the roles reversed and they dropped the second set. The third set went to New Mexico in a frame that although there were ties, the Lobos never trailed. Nevada used a late run to force a fifth set, where New Mexico scored the first five points en route to a dominating 15-4 set win. In their match at Air Force, the Lobos were unable to capture the fourth set but catapulted out to 10-2 lead in the fifth behind a 9-0 run. The Falcons made a late push to cut the margin to three at 14-11, but Tai Bierria notched the final point on a kill to seal the set and the match.
In the last non-conference match against CMU, and for the fifth time this season, UNM went the distance in a five-set victory. After the Chippewas rallied to force a fifth set, the Lobos scored the first three points of the set, closed the match on a 7-0 run, including four blocks in-a-row, en route to the 15-7 set win.
In the three matches played at the Idaho Volleyball Classic on opening weekend and the three matches at the UNF Invitational, the Lobos played five sets in two of each tournament, going 2-2. UNM lost a late lead in the fifth set to fall to Grand Canyon University to open the tournament, but finished with a five-set victory against host Idaho. At UNF, New Mexico was down to match point at 24-23 in the fourth set, with Lauren Twitty registering a kill to extend the set. The Lobos would go on to win 26-24. In the fifth set, the Lobos trailed 13-10 before fighting back to win the set 16-14.
The Closer
Junior outside hitter Tai Bierria has scored the final point in six matches this season, five of which tallied the winning point. In MW play, Bierria recorded the final kill against Nevada, Air Force, UNLV and Utah State to clinch the victory, and recorded the final point scored by the Lobos against Boise State and San Diego State. She also had the winning point versus USC Upstate in non-conference play.
Setting the Tone
The Lobos have two new setters on the roster in freshman Sabrina Bianco and redshirt-freshman transfer Jaclyn Inclan. Bianco leads the team with 486 assists, averaging 5.52 per set, and Inclan is behind her with 375 assists (4.41 a/s). Combined, the duo has 861 of the team’s 972 assists. Bianco has started 18 matches, and has registered double-digit assists in all 22 matches this season. Inclan recorded a season-high 32 in the match at Air Force, has recorded double-digit assists in all but one match. Inclan also made her first start of the season against the Spartans, and has started three of the four matches since.
Serves You Right
Sabrina Bianco (16) has the team high in service aces with LaurenTwitty second with 15. Jaclyn Inclan (12) and Morgan Schreckler (11) round out the Lobos with double-digit service aces.
Joining the Rankings
Lauren Twitty is fifth in the Mountain West with 3.45 k/s, totaling 300 kills in 87 sets, the fifth-most kills in the conference, as well as sixth in points per set at 3.95 (344 points) with the sixth-most points. Mercedes Pacheco is sixth in digs per set with 3.53.
In just conference matches, Spragg is sixth in the MW in hitting percentage at .304 and is 10th in blocks per set (1.05). Twitty is fourth in kills per set (3.59) and Tai Bierria is ninth (3.05). Pacheco is fifth in digs per set with 3.69 and Twitty is fourth in points per set (4.03).
Nationally, Twitty is ranked in attacks per set (9.86), points, points per set, total kills (300), kills per set and total attacks (858). Spragg is ranked in total blocks (91) and blocks per set (1.03).
I’ll Have the Double-Double, Please
The double-doubles keep coming for the Lobos, as UNM has 25 on the season. Lauren Twitty had four double-doubles in the last six matches for a team-high 10 on the season, as well as recording three double-doubles at the UNF Invitational. Tai Bierria has six for the second-most on the team.
In the match at Air Force, UNM had three players with double-doubles with Victoria Spragg (11 kills, 12 blocks), Jaclyn Inclan (32 assists, 14 digs) and Mercedes Pacheco (10 assists, 21 digs). It was the first double-double of the season for Spragg and Inclan and the first of Spragg’s career.
Versus Furman, three New Mexico players had a double-double, but in all three UNF Invitational matches, at least two Lobos had a double-double.
Against Idaho, four Lobo players registered double-doubles. Sabrina Bianco had 30 assists and 12 digs, Inclan had 23 assists to go with 11 digs, in addition to Twitty’s 20 kills and 14 digs and Bierria’s 12 kills and 12 digs.
Just Dig It
Mercedes Pacheco is pacing the Lobos in digs with 226 digs through 64 sets, an average of 3.53 digs per set. Lauren Twitty is second on the team with 215 digs at 2.47 digs per set, followed by Tai Bierria, who has 157 digs (1.83 d/s). Pacheco had a career-high 21 digs at Air Force and matched it in the match versus Wyoming.
Road Block
Victoria Spragg leads the team with 91 total blocks (15 solo and 76 assisted), with an average of 1.03 blocks per set. Six of her solo blocks came in the matches versus UNLV, Air Force and Nevada. In the match at Air Force, she had a career-high 12 total blocks with two solo and 10 assisted. Mariessa Carrasco is second on the team with 75 total blocks, seven solo and 68 assisted. Lauren Twitty is second on the team in solo blocks with eight.
Scouting the Opposition
About UNLV
The Rebels have won two of their last three matches. UNLV is 9-2 at home (4-1 in conference play), 6-0 in three-set matches, 8-6 in four sets and 1-1 in five sets.
Mariena Hayden leads the team in kills (382, 4.55 k/s), digs (264, 3.14 d/s) and service aces (76). The sophomore outside hitter has tallied 477.5 points, averaging 5.68 points per set and is hitting .278 on the season. Antonette Rolda has 726 of the team’s 1016 assists, averaging 8.61 a/s. Elsa Descamps leads UNLV with 86 total blocks, 12 solo and 74 assisted, an average of 1.02 blocks per set.
Kate Brennan leads the MW in overall hitting percentage (.361) and Hayden leads in kills, kills per set, service aces, service aces per set (.90), points and points per set. Hayden is eighth in digs per set and Rolda is fifth in the MW in assists per set, but fourth in total assists.
UNLV leads the conference in service aces (174) and service aces per set (2.07), is tied for second in hitting percentage (.249) and third in assists per set (12.10) and kills per set (13.07). The Rebels are also fourth in digs per set (14.30). The Rebels lead the NCAA in aces per set with Hayden leading the country in service aces and aces per set as well.
Series vs. UNLV
This will be the 42nd meeting between the two teams, with UNLV holding a 24-17 edge. In Las Vegas, the Lobos are 7-12 against the Rebels. The last road win for the Lobos came on Oct. 31, 2013 in four sets.
UNM won the two last matches between the teams with a straight-set victory (25-16, 25-20, 25-20) on Nov. 12, 2017 and a four-set win earlier this season. Prior to that win, UNLV had won the previous three matches, and in the last 10 matches, the Rebels have won six. UNM is 7-11 in three-set matches, 8-8 in four sets and 2-5 in five sets.