Lobos Win Big in Vegas with Sweep of UNLV
LAS VEGAS, Nev.—The University of New Mexico volleyball team found the winning combination on Tuesday night in Las Vegas with a sweep of the UNLV Rebels to move back in to the win column and end its four-match losing streak.
With the 25-18, 25-20, 25-17 victory, the Lobos won in Las Vegas for the first time since Oct. 31, 2013 to earn the season sweep of UNLV and moves to 12-11 overall and 6-5 in Mountain West competition, while the Rebels fell to 15-8 and 6-5 in the Mountain West. It also marks the first time that UNLV has been swept this season after entering the match 6-0 in three-set contests.
Tai Bierria recorded a match-high 14 kills and hit .429 for the Lobos, with Lauren Twitty adding 13 kills in the match. Sabrina Bianco had 21 assists to lead the team with Jaclyn Inclan tallying 17 assists, together accounting for 38 of the team’s 40 assists on the evening. Mercedes Pacheco had 17 digs and Victoria Spragg had two solo and two assisted blocks to lead the Lobo defense. Mariessa Carrasco had a solo block and an assisted block as well, as the Lobos held a 7-5 total team block advantage on four solo blocks and six assisted blocks. Makayla Tam had a season-high two of UNM’s six service aces, totaling as many service aces as UNLV had as a team.
UNM had the edge in every statistical category, outhitting UNLV .327 to .160 with 44 kills to 34 kills, while also having a 40-31 advantage in assists, 43-36 edge in digs to go along with the advantage in total team blocks and service aces. The Lobos also committed six fewer errors in the match than the Rebels (12-18), decreasing the number of errors from six to to four to two as the sets went on.
Twitty opened up the match with two kills to go with a Tam ace to give the Lobos a 4-2 advantage early on. The lead grew to seven, 12-5, on 6-0 run as a result of two Bierria kills, followed by a Rebel attack error and a kill each by Yasmin Tan and Carrasco. A solo block by Twitty followed by a kill by Twitty pushed the lead to nine at 15-6. Spragg registered an assisted block with Tan followed by a solo block to push the Lobo lead to 10 at 18-8. The Lobos and Rebels exchanged points for the next three points until UNLV registered three consecutive points to cut the lead to seven at 20-13 before Spragg ended the mini run with her second kill of the set. UNLV made a late run to cut the margin to five at 22-17, but Bierria recorded her fifth kill of the set and a service ace to give the Lobos set point at 24-17. The Rebels added one final point, but Twitty tallied the final point on her fifth kill of the set to give UNM the first set, 25-18. Twitty and Bierria each had five kills in the opening set with Bianco accounting for eight assists and Inclan tallying UNM’s other five. Pacheco had seven of the team’s 13 digs and Tam and Bierria each had a service ace. Spragg had a solo and an assisted block and Twitty had a solo block to lead the defense at the net.
In the second set, UNLV took the early lead, but UNM was able to tie the set at four and then proceeded to take a 5-4 lead on the next point on a Bierria kill. UNLV answered with a 5-1 run to take the 9-6 lead. A service error and a Bierria kill brought UNM within one, and after an exchange of points made it 11-9, the Lobos used a 6-0 run to take control at 15-11 at the media timeout. Tan had two kills in the run to propel the visitors. UNLV scored the next two points out of the break to cut into the lead, but a service error, a Twitty kill and Tam service ace created a five-point cushion at 18-13. UNLV once again got the margin down to two at 18-16, but once again, Spragg had the answer with a kill to create some separation. Pacheco pushed the margin back to four with a service ace to make it 21-17. A Rebel kill made it 21-18, but that was as close as UNLV was able to get before UNM closed the set with a 4-2 run. Bianco registered a service ace followed by a Bierria kill to give UNM set point at 24-19. Carrasco finished off the set with a kill to give UNM the 2-0 match lead with the 25-20 set victory.
UNLV again took an early lead in the third set with the 3-1 advantage, and like the second set, UNM responded to tie the set at four. There were ties at five, six and seven before UNLV recorded three- consecutive points to gain the 10-7 advantage. Very similar to the second set, the Lobos rallied to tie the set at 10, and proceeded to take a 12-10 lead. However, UNLV answered with the next three points to tie the set again at 12 and take the 13-12 lead. There was a final tie at 13 before a Twitty kill and Spragg solo block made it 15-13 at the media timeout. The margin grew to three at 17-14 on a Spragg kill and extended to six at 21-15 after two Rebel attack errors. The Rebels tallied two final points before the Lobos sealed the set with the final four points on a kill by Carrasco, an attack error by UNLV, a solo block by Carrasco and a kill by Bierria for the 25-17 set win, and the sweep. Twitty closed the match with four final kills, with Spragg and Bierria with three apiece. Bianco added six assists and Spragg and Carrasco manned the net with one solo block and an assisted block each. UNM outhit UNLV .357 to .000 in the final set.
UNM returns home to host Air Force on Saturday, Oct. 27 at 1 p.m.