ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– The University of New Mexico volleyball team concludes its regular season this week with two road matches at Wyoming and Colorado State.
The Lobos face the Cowgirls on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. MT before the regular-season finale against the Rams on Saturday at 7 p.m. UNM lost both of its previous matches with the two teams, taking Wyoming to five sets before dropping the match and losing in straight sets to Colorado State.
CSU enters the match currently in first in the conference at 22-6 overall and 14-2 in the Mountain West, and have won its last 11 matches. Wyoming is 18-10, 10-6 in the MW, and is 3-2 in its last five matches. Both teams are near perfect at home, with Wyoming 12-1 in the Uniwyo Sports Complex and Colorado State 11-2 at the Moby Arena.
UNM Notes | Wyoming Notes | Colorado State Notes
Wyoming: Live Stats | Live Stream
Colorado State: Live Stats | Live Stream
LOBOS LAST TIME OUT
New Mexico volleyball lost two five-set matches on the week, falling to Fresno State (28-26,19-25, 20-25, 25-23, 7-15) and lost a two-set lead versus San Diego State (25-17, 25-23, 21-25, 24-26, 8-15).
Mercedes Pacheco tallied a match- and career-high 26 digs versus SDSU on Senior Day and Lauren Twitty recorded two double-doubles with a match-high 17 kills to go along with 12 digs against the Bulldogs and 19 kills and 13 digs against the Aztecs.
On the week, Twitty led the Lobos with 36 kills, while also having a team high in service aces with four. Victoria Spragg had a team-high 11 total blocks- three solo, eight assisted. Pacheco tallied 47 digs for the team high and Sabrina Bianco had 50 assists to lead the team.
LAST TIME VERSUS WYOMING AND CSU
The Lobos lost both matches to the Cowgirls and the Rams, with a five-set (14-25, 25-23,15-25, 25-19, 9-15) and three-set (16-25, 16-25, 15-25) match, respectively.
Sabrina Bianco (match-high 27 assists, 11 digs) and Lauren Twitty (match-high 19 kills, 11 digs) each recorded double-doubles, but it wasn’t enough as the Wyoming Cowgirls took the five-set victory.. 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. 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.
Against Colorado State, UNM was outhit .333 to .059 by the Mountain West preseason favorite, with a season-low 30 kills and 24 errors on 101 attempts, and CSU held a 13-4 total team blocks advantage at the net. Lauren Twitty led the team with eight kills, while Tai Bierria had the second-highest with five and Danica Rowan had a career-high four. Setters Sabrina Bianco and Jaclyn Inclan each tallied double-digit assists with 15 and 11, respectively to acount for 26 of the team’s 29 assists on the night. Inclan had the highest hitting percentage on the night for the Lobos with .500 on three kills from six attempts, a season high for the redshirt-freshman. Mercedes Pacheco had a team-high 10 digs and Victoria Spragg recorded one solo block and one assisted block to lead the defense. Twitty registered the only service ace of the night for UNM, which came on the first point of the second set.
GOING THE DISTANCE
Eleven times this season, UNM has played five sets- inlcuding both matches last week- and have recorded a 5-6 record.
UNM has played five sets in three of the last four matches, and have lost all three.
On Saturday, Lauren Twitty recorded her 10th kill of the match in the second set to give the Lobos a 25-23 set win and a 2-0 lead in the match, and the San Diego State Aztecs committed an attack error to give UNM two match points in the fourth set at 24-22, but the Lobos couldn’t close out the Aztecs in the fourth before dropping the fifth and the match, 25-17, 25-23, 21-25, 24-26, 8-15.
Versus FS, junior outside hitter Lauren Twitty recorded her 12th double-double of the season with 17 kills, a match high, and 12 digs and added a match-high three service aces and four assisted blocks.The Lobos pulled out two close sets, while testing Fresno State late in one before ultimately dropping it, in the 28-26, 19-25, 20-25, 25-23, 7-15 loss.
At SJSU, the Lobos rallied from down nine (20-11) to win the third set 25-23 and were within two points of taking the fourth set and the match before dropping the fourth set 25-23 and the fifth set 15-11.
In UNM’s 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.
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 609 assists, averaging 5.34 per set, and Inclan is behind her with 489 assists (4.41 a/s). Combined, the duo has 1098 of the team’s 1245 assists (88.2%). Bianco has started 22 matches, registering double-digit assists in all 28 matches this season and 20-plus assists in 15. 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 in five matches since.
SERVES YOU RIGHT
Lauren Twitty (21) leads the Lobos in service aces with Sabrina Bianco two behind her. Morgan Schreckler (15), Jaclyn Inclan (12), Mercedes Pacheco (12) and Mariessa Carrasco (10) round out the Lobos with double-digit service aces.
JUST DIG IT
Mercedes Pacheco is pacing the Lobos in digs with 350 digs through 90 sets, an average of 3.89 digs per set, without registering any ball handling errors. Lauren Twitty is second on the team with 276 digs at 2.44 digs per set, followed by Sabrina Bianco and Tai Bierria, who have 202 (1.77 d/s) and 173 digs (1.54 d/s), respectively. Pacheco had a career-high 26 digs in Saturday’s match versus SDSU and has tallied 20-plus digs in the last four matches.
ACCESS DENIED
Victoria Spragg leads the team with 128 total blocks (21 solo and 107 assisted), with an average of 1.12 blocks per set. 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 104 total blocks, 13 solo and 91 assisted. Carrasco had a career-high 13 assisted blocks versus CMU, which tied the school record for most in a single match by an individual.
Spragg and Carrasco have had breakout seasons at the middle blocker position for the Lobos. For comparison, in the last two years, Spragg had 118 total blocks in 2016 and 115 in 2017, and Carrasco had 101 total blocks last year and 96 the year before (2016), numbers that the middle blockers have surpassed with two matches left to play in the regular season.
Spragg currently ranks fourth all-time in career block assists with 336 and fourth in total blocks at 398, while Carrasco is sixth in career block assists with 294 and seventh in total blocks with 331. Spragg’s 128 total blocks this year ranks eighth all-time in single season individual records.
JOINING THE RANKINGS
Lauren Twitty is fifth in the Mountain West with 3.50 k/s, totaling 395 kills in 113 sets, as well as fifth in points per set at 4.01 (453 points).
Mercedes Pacheco is fifth in digs per set with 3.89. Victoria Spragg is 10th in blocks per set with 1.12, but is tied for the most solo blocks in the MW with 21.
In just conference matches, Spragg is eighth in the MW in hitting percentage at .281 and is seventh in blocks per set (1.20). Twitty is fourth in kills per set (3.62) and Tai Bierria is 10th (3.00). Pacheco is fourth in digs per set with 4.12 and Twitty is fourth in points per set (4.09).
Nationally, Twitty is ranked in attacks per set (10.15), points, points per set, total kills, kills per set and total attacks (1147). Spragg is ranked in total blocks and blocks per set and Mariessa Carrasco is ranked in total blocks and Pacheco is ranked in total digs.
Twitty’s 1147 total attacks ranks seventh all-time in single season individual records for attempts.
I’LL HAVE THE DOUBLE-DOUBLE, PLEASE
The double-doubles keep coming for the Lobos, as UNM has 31 on the season from seven different players.
Lauren Twitty has posted three double-doubles in the last three matches and a team-high 13 on the season. Twitty recorded 13 double-doubles last season and currently has 27 career double-doubles, which leads the conference in the number of career double-doubles.
Tai Bierria and Sabrina Bianco are tied for the second-most on the team with six after Bianco had two in the matches at SJSU and Nevada.
In those two matches, Bianco recorded her fifth and sixth of the season against SJSU (15 assists, 14 digs) and Nevada (22 assists, 10 digs) and Mariessa Carrasco had the first double-double of her career at Nevada (11 kills, 10 total blocks).
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.
SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
ABOUT WYOMING
The Cowgirls are 3-2 in their last five matches and are 12-1 at home this season.Wyoming is 11-2 in three-set matches, 3-5 in four sets and 4-3 in five sets.
Emily Lewis leads Wyoming in kills with 243 (2.41 k/s) and is hitting .224. Cori Aafedt leads the team in assists with 644 of the team’s 1245 (6.08 a/s). Halie McArdle has a team-high 17 service aces while Madi Fields has a team-high 424 digs (4.33 d/s). Reed Copeland (19 solo, 151 assisted) has 170 total blocks to the lead the team, and is averaging 1.60 blocks per set.
Copeland leads the conference in blocks and blocks per set, as well as second in the NCAA in total blocks and fifth in blocks per set. Copeland is fourth in the conference in overall hitting percentage at .343 and McBride is seventh at .314. Fields is third in digs per set and total digs, and Aafedt is ninth in assists per set.
Wyoming leads the Mountain West in blocks per set (2.81), is second in hitting percentage (.249) and opponent hitting percentage (.170) and fifth in kills per set (12.75). The Cowgirls are fifth in the NCAA in team total blocks (298).
SERIES VS. WYOMING
The Lobos and Cowgirls will be meeting for the 81th time, with Wyoming leading 46-34 in the series. New Mexico and Wyoming split the series last season, with the Lobos winning a 3-0 match on the road and dropping a match against the Cowgirls in four in Albuquerque. UNM is 14-15 in three sets, 11-17 in four sets and 9-12 in five. In the last 10 matches, Wyoming has won eight and four of the last five meetings.
ABOUT COLORADO STATE
The Rams have won their last 11 matches and are 11-2 at home, 14-1 in three-set matches, 7-4 in four sets and 1-1 in five sets.
Breana Runnels leads the team in kills with 398 (4.02 k/s) and is third on the team in service aces (28). The redshirt-sophomore outsude hitter has tallied 456 points, averaging 4.61 points per set and is hitting .224 on the season. Katie Oleksak has 1152 of the team’s 1261 assists, averaging 11.64 a/s. Olivia Nicholson has a team-high 31 service aces and 271 digs (2.98 d/s). Paulina Hougaard-Jensen leads Colorado State with 126 total blocks,19 solo and 107 assisted, an average of 1.27 blocks per set.
Hougaard-Jensen leads the MW in hitting percentage (.355) and Kirstie Hillyer is second with .352. Oleksak leads the conference in assists and assists per set. Runnels is second in kills per set and points per set. Hougaard-Jensen is fourth in blocks per set followed by Hillyer, who is fifth in blocks per set (1.21). Nicholson (.34), Sasha Colombo (.32) and Maddi Foutz (.29) are sixth, seventh and eighth in service aces per set, respectively. Hillyer is eighth in points per set with 3.68.
Colorado State leads the conference in hitting percentage (.264), opponent hitting percentage (.154), kills per set (13.61) and assists per set (12.74), and is third in blocks per set (2.67) and service aces per set (1.68).
SERIES VS. COLORADO STATE
This will be the 80th meeting between the two teams, with CSU holding a 56-23 edge. In Fort Collins, the Lobos are 8-29 against the Rams. CSU has won the last 12 meetings dating back to Nov. 23, 2012, with UNM’s last win coming on Sept. 20, 2012. The last road match UNM won against CSU was Oct. 7, 1994, which was in five sets. UNM is 8-34 in three sets, 8-13 in four sets and 5-9 in five sets.